PET FUNERALS
IN FRANCE
REGULATION, INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIAL BOUNDARIES
By Elisabeth Charrier, Managing Director of the Fédération Nationale
du Funéraire (FNF)
n France, animal funeral services form
a distinct and clearly identified field.
Their development has been shaped less
by spontaneous social demand than by
regulatory frameworks and institutional
choices that have, over time, defined what
is permitted, what remains excluded, and
how practices may evolve. Although the
place of companion animals in households
has changed significantly, animal funerals
remain organised separately from human
funerals, both in law and in symbolic
terms.
This distinction influences professional practices,
public perceptions and the overall structuring of the
sector. The French situation illustrates an approach
based on separation and caution, in which animal
funerals are neither marginalised nor assimilated
into the human funeral system.
A legal framework
separate from human funerals
Human funerals in France are governed by public law,
mainly through the General Code of Local Authorities.
Burial and cremation practices, cemetery management
and the obligations imposed on funeral operators are
all subject to detailed regulation. Municipal cemeteries,
as public spaces, are exclusively intended for human
remains and occupy a central place in collective
representations of death and remembrance.
22
No. 114 – 2/2026 | THANOS MAGAZINE
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