What Fourrière does

The Syndicat mixte de la fourrière, operating under the brand Fourrière16, is a French public intercommunal establishment (EPCI) created by Arrêté Préfectoral on 13 May 2000 to provide the exclusive animal pound service for all municipalities in the Charente department. The entity captures, houses, and cares for stray dogs and cats on behalf of local mayors exercising their statutory police powers over stray animals, and operates a microchip reader to identify and reunite lost pets with their owners. When owners cannot be located or fail to reclaim animals within the statutory window, the entity transfers animals to a network of partner adoption associations.

The organization has a lean operating structure of 12 employees headquartered at 3 rue d'Alexandrie in Angoulême, with the primary animal shelter facility located at the Fourrière de Maine Geay. The service offering is built around three web-facing products: a public animal search portal (Recherche d'animaux) allowing owners to query by species, sex, size, coat color, and commune; the core animal shelter service; and a member portal (Espace collectivités) for local authority officials to access shared documents and operational tools. Marketing and citizen communication is limited to the fourriere16.fr website and a Facebook page displaying animals in care and lost-and-found information.

The business model is that of a public utility rather than a commercial enterprise. Revenue is generated through intercommunal cooperation contributions from member municipalities in Charente, supplemented by reclamation fees charged to animal owners (escalating with duration of stay). The entity has no private equity, venture capital, or individual ownership. In 2019, the mandate was expanded via a modified institutive decision to permit the syndicate to financially support animal protection associations. The organization is not a typical investment vehicle; its value is in its regulated monopoly status within a single French department and the institutional integration it maintains with communes, veterinarians, and adoption partners.

Name

Fourrière

Legal name

Syndicat mixte de la fourrière

Website

https://fourriere16.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fourrière (Syndicat mixte de la fourrière) is a French public intercommunal establishment providing exclusive stray animal shelter services for Charente department municipalities, using microchip identification to reunite lost dogs and cats with their owners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Municipal Animal Shelter Services

NAICS

Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services (81291)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Animal Shelters & Rescue Operations (AFAEALAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Lost & Found, Reunification & Microchipping Programs (BPAGAIAL)

Keywords

• Animal shelter services
• Stray animal management
• Municipal pound services
• Pet identification services
• Animal custody services

Headquarters

HQ city

Angoulême

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Municipal service fees: Public service funded through intercommunal cooperation contributions from member municipalities in the Charente department

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Fourrière16 runs a public animal pound that captures stray and abandoned dogs and cats in the Charente department, France, and houses, identifies, and cares for them at its Angoulême facility. The organization identifies owners via microchip reading, supports owner reclamation on a cumulative fee basis, and coordinates with partner veterinarians and adoption associations for rehoming. It also provides a public online animal search and a member portal for participating municipalities.

Product overview

Fourrière operates as a single unified public service platform providing municipal animal shelter services for the Charente department. The core offering consists of animal shelter and custody services for stray dogs and cats, complemented by a public-facing animal search website and a member portal for local authorities. The service assists mayors in exercising their police powers regarding stray animals, facilitates owner reunification through microchip identification, and supports adoption through partner associations. No separate product modules or platform architecture are indicated—the organization functions as a traditional public service rather than a technology platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Animal Search Service (Recherche d'animaux) Online searchable database of dogs and cats currently impounded at the Fourrière16 facility, intended for Charente residents searching for a lost or stray pet.
• Stray Animal Capture, Custody, and Care Capture, transport, housing, and daily care of stray and abandoned dogs and cats collected across the Charente department on behalf of member municipalities.
• Microchip-Based Owner Identification and Reclamation Reading of implanted microchips on impounded animals, contacting identified owners, and processing reclamation against cumulative fees that increase with the length of stay.
• Espace Collectivités (Local Authority Member Area) Secure online portal for member municipalities and intercommunal authorities to access information and follow up on stray-animal cases handled by Fourrière16 in their territory.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• 2 Fourrière service providerscoreOthers · 13 May 2000External service providers contracted to operate the pound facilities and animal handling services.
• 4 Partner veterinarianscoreOthersVeterinary professionals providing animal health care and identification services for animals in the pound's care.
• 3 Animal adoption associationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdoption associations that receive animals from the pound for rehoming when owners cannot be located or do not reclaim their pets. The organization also provides financial support to animal protection associations.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Fondation 30 Millions d'Amis: Major French animal welfare foundation that funds and supports shelters and animal protection programs nationwide. Comparable to Fourrière as a broader animal welfare incumbent with shelter/rescue orientation and government-facing advocacy.
• Société Protectrice des Animaux (SPA): France's largest animal protection organization, operating shelters, pounds, and adoption services across the country, including the fourrière of Paris. SPA is a broader incumbent with overlapping pound, shelter, and adoption services, making it the closest national analog to Fourrière's mixed animal welfare and reunification mandate.
• Fondation Assistance aux Animaux: French animal welfare organization providing shelter, veterinary care, and adoption services. Comparable as a national animal welfare incumbent offering pound-adjacent services such as boarding, care, and rehoming.

Others

• Confédération Nationale des SPA de France: National umbrella organization for French animal protection associations, including shelters and pounds. Comparable as an ecosystem enabler and peer network for intercommunal fourrières and member associations.
• I-CAD (Fichier National d'Identification des Carnivores Domestiques): French national pet identification database manager that operates the central microchip and tattoo registry used by veterinarians and pounds. Comparable as a technology and data infrastructure partner that Fourrière relies on for owner identification via microchip reading.

Regional players

• Fourrière animale de Bordeaux Métropole: Intercommunal animal pound serving the Bordeaux metropolitan area. Directly comparable as a regional French fourrière operating under public intercommunal structure to provide the same municipal pound services in a different French territory.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Syndicat-Mixte-de-la-Fourri%C3%A8re-Fourri%C3%A8re16
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fourri%C3%A8re

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fourrière