A rooster named Maurice can continue his crowing after a judge rejected a lawsuit filed by some unhappy neighbors’ lawyer, Vincent Huberdeau, in France.
Maurice’s owner, Corinne Fesseau, told a court in Rochefort, western France, in July, that nobody else had complained about the noise at her home, except a couple of retired summer vacationers.
She faced having to either move or silence her rooster, but the judge, on Thursday, rejected her neighbours’ complaint, meaning that Maurice can carry on crowing.
Her lawyer, Julien Papineau, said that the neighbours must also pay €1,000 in damages.
The case quickly ballooned into a national cause celebre, with 140,000 people signing a “Save Maurice” petition or proudly displaying his picture on “Let Me Sing”
The ruling may spell good news for a flock of ducks in the Landes region of southwest France, where a trial is under way between farmers and neighbors angry over the creatures’ quacks and smell.
Authorities also ruled against residents of a village in the French Alps who complained in 2017 about annoying cow bells, and an effort last year to push out cicadas from a southern town to protect tourists from their summer song also failed.
Some French lawmakers have suggested a law protecting the sounds and smells of the countryside as part of France’s rural heritage.
Source: AP/AFP
