Crowing cock causes neighbourly tension
Maurice's early morning noise has inspired a legal row - and a petition to save his crowing
A noisy cockerel called Maurice is causing neighbourhood unrest on Ile d’Oléron with his early morning singing – but 30,000 people have signed a petition in support of his continued crowing.
Corinne Fesseau’s two-year-old Marans cock sings at sunrise every day, much to the vexation of neighbours staying at their holiday home in Saint-Pierre d’Oléron (Charente-Maritime).
“I live on and was born on the Ile d’Oléron, we’ve always had a hen house, well before any homes were built behind our wall.
“In the last ten years or so two houses have been built behind our wall and of the two neighbours, only one (who only comes three times a year) cannot bear the song of our cock Maurice, who is used for reproduction”, says the petition in support of the animal.
The neighbour first complained in May, and then again in July. The cockerel’s owner has also received a registered letter sent by a conciliateur de justice (who aim to find ‘amicable’ solutions to disputes), threatening her with legal action if no solution is found.
Ms Fesseau has tried to find solutions to alleviate the side effects of Maurice’s noisy vocal cords. She tried to lock him up every night very early in his cage and sealed it so that he did not see the light before 8.00. She also lined the walls of the henhouse with cardboard egg boxes – neither had the desired effect.
“My cock is completely in the dark until 8.00, but like an alarm clock he happens to know at 6.30 that it’s his time,” she explains.
As well as launching the petition to highlight Maurice’s plight, the owner of the cock also organized a walk with her pet in the community. The whole village now knows the story and the mayor Christophe Sueur, who also received a registered letter sent by the neighbours outlining the ultimatum, supports Ms Fesseau.
Maurice would not be the first cock to overcome such legal hurdles: 15 years ago, Riom’s Court of Appeal in the Puy-de-Dôme annulled a decision of the Clermont-Ferrand tribunal which ordered the destruction of a small poultry breeding farm because of noise nuisance.
The judge summed up: “The hen is an innocent and stupid animal to the point that no one has yet managed to train it, not even a Chinese circus.” It is therefore impossible to prevent a cock from singing, she said.
The irony in the Oléron tale – Ms Fesseau said wanted always a hen and not a cock. “Only the chick grew up and started singing,” she told France Bleu La Rochelle.
