Filipino toymaker David Tan has been receiving a bulk of orders from heartbroken pet owners who want to honor the lives of the pets they have lost with stuffed toys or plushies.
According to Reuters, Tan and a team of 20 employees use photos sent by customers to create life-like replicas of their deceased pets using synthetic fur that is airbrushed to recreate colors and markings of the animals.
Tan, owner of Pampanga Teddy Bear Factory, explained that the process is different from taxidermy, which preserves the body of the animal.
He said in a statement that “it removes that ‘ick’ factor and this is actually one hundred percent, genuinely a stuffed toy.”
One customer named Jaja Lazarte said that though each plushie costs about P3,500 (AED235), it is worth paying for her Shih Tzu’s memory.
“Although his ashes are here, and his memories are here, it’s so much better to see something that really resembles him,” she said in the Reuters report.
