- Title: Owner facing lawsuit defends French rooster Maurice for crowing too loudly
- Date: 30th August 2019
- Summary: SAINT-PIERRE-D'OLERON, FRANCE (AUGUST 29, 2019) (REUTERS) MAURICE THE ROOSTER IN BACKYARD OWNER OF MAURICE WHO IS BEING SUED FOR ROOSTER'S LOUD CROWS, CORRINE FESSEAU, FEEDING CHICKENS VARIOUS OF MAURICE AND OTHER CHICKENS EATING FESSEAU STANDING BY CHICKEN COOP, MAURICE GETTING OUT FESSEAU FEEDING MAURICE (SOUNDBITE) (French) OWNER OF MAURICE THE ROOSTER WHO IS BEING SUED FOR LOUD CROWS, CORRINE FESSEAU, SAYING: "I said, I'm not going to let myself be pushed around. Nature has to stay what it is and the countryside should get back its normal noises. All our elected officials back me and agree with me. There's a very big problem. People have to understand that in the city, they are used to noise, but in the countryside, we find other noises that have always been there and that are normal. The countryside should stay as is and they should not say, 'We should silence the countryside noises'." FESSEAU OPENING WINDOW, POINTING AT HOUSE OF NEIGHBOURS WHO ARE SUING HER (SOUNDBITE) (French) OWNER OF MAURICE THE ROOSTER WHO IS BEING SUED FOR LOUD CROWS, CORRINE FESSEAU, SAYING: "When we (countryside residents) go to the city, we tolerate the noise, we don't like it, but we adapt. So when they (city residents) come to the countryside, they should do the same thing. They have to adapt and not be the law of the town, which is what three-quarters of them do. We can't handle that anymore. Even the mayors are getting powerless, regarding complaints, people come to complain saying: 'There's a rooster that crows, a frog that caws, a bell that rings.' That's not acceptable anymore." ROOSTER FIGURINE LETTER FROM SUPPORTERS OF MAURICE FROM UNITED STATES ON TABLE READING (French): "WE LOVE YOU MAURICE! YOUR FRIENDS FROM THE UNITED STATES / LONG LIVE MAURICE!" FESSEAU LOOKING AT LETTERS WITH A FRIEND WHO SUPPORTS HER ASSOCIATION IN SUPPORT OF MAURICE LETTER FROM SUPPORTERS OF MAURICE LETTER FROM SUPPORTERS OF MAURICE FROM BELGIUM T-SHIRT WITH PICTURE OF MAURICE AND TEXT READING (English): "SUPPORT MAURICE THE FRENCH COCK" / FESSEAU AND FRIEND WALKING TOWARDS WOMAN IN T-SHIRT SHOP T-SHIRTS IN SUPPORT OF MAURICE FESSEAU AND FRIEND IN SHOP (SOUNDBITE) (French) LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER WHO SELLS T-SHIRT IN SUPPORT OF MAURICE THE ROOSTER, BENOIT GUITTON, SAYING: "The idea in the beginning was to support Corrine's association (in support of Maurice), but especially to push out a cry of anger against the fact that a rooster could congest a tribunal. I think we should stop all this. We are defending, of course, rural living, we are defending all animals in the countryside, but it's especially to say, 'Stop, let's stop suing our neighbours for a rooster, for the seagulls, for the frogs'." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (French) 62-YEAR-OLD TOURIST FROM HAUTE SAVOIE, BERNADETTE, SAYING: "I'll beat their faces, these people who come from Parisian homes and complain of the rooster. There wouldn't even be a lawsuit, I'll just beat them up. It's unacceptable. This is all stupid." (SOUNDBITE) (French) 65-YEAR-OLD TOURIST FROM HAUTE SAVOIE, MICHEL, SAYING: "That said with all this you can no longer eat the rooster." (SOUNDBITE) (French) 62-YEAR-OLD TOURIST FROM HAUTE SAVOIE, BERNADETTE, SAYING: "No, I don't, not with the Parisians. I'm not eating with the Parisians." (SOUNDBITE) (French) 65-YEAR-OLD TOURIST FROM HAUTE SAVOIE, MICHEL, SAYING: "Well, I'm talking about the owners, maybe they're also fed up of being bothered. Maybe they're ready to make it into a coq-au-vin." (SOUNDBITE) (French) 62-YEAR-OLD TOURIST FROM HAUTE SAVOIE, BERNADETTE, SAYING: "Yes, maybe they would be ready for a coq-au-vin." PARISIAN TOURIST, NATHALIE, LOOKING AT POSTCARDS POSTCARD FOR OLERON ISLAND (SOUNDBITE) (French) 40-YEAR-OLD PARISIAN TOURIST, NATHALIE, SAYING: "No, I think the court complaint is a bit abusive. I think, again, it's part of daily life, and hearing a rooster crow is part of life. It's pretty nice to hear an animal speak out." PEOPLE WALKING AT PORT / SEAGULL ON POLE PEOPLE WALKING AT PORT FISHERMAN PORT AND SEA
- Embargoed: 13th September 2019 15:37
- Keywords: French cockerel rooster countryside Maurice the rooster trial hearing court
- Location: SAINT-PIERRE-D'OLERON, FRANCE
- City: SAINT-PIERRE-D'OLERON, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA001AUEU8G7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: At first glance, Maurice, a French rooster living in the backyard of Corrine Fesseau in the western French village of Saint-Pierre-d'Oleron, looks like a mere innocent chicken.
But according to Fesseau's neighbours, Maurice's loud crows has caused them trouble. In July, they filed a lawsuit against Fesseau, alleging that the noise had been waking them up every morning and that the disturbance counts as audible nuisance.
The Rochefort court in western France is set to deliver a final judgment on the case on Thursday (September 5).
According to the court complaint, the neighbours, Jean-Louis and Joelle Biron, who had live in the Limousin region of France and have a second home in Saint-Pierre-d'Oleron, had said Maurice would crow at 5 a.m. every morning, which they would hear from their window a couple metres away from Fesseau's coop.
But Fesseau told Reuters on Thursday (August 29) the noise was "normal."
"I'm not going to let myself be pushed around," Fesseau said. "Nature has to stay what it is and the countryside should get back its normal noises."
The lawsuit has shed a light on the growing misunderstanding between residents of French metropolitan areas and locals of small-town villages in rural France.
A resident of the southwestern French city of Souston is set to appear in court on September 3 facing a lawsuit filed by neighbours, who normally live in the city, on charges of audible nuisance because of ducks living in his backyard.
Earlier this year, residents of Saint-Martin de Colmar also threatened to file a lawsuit for the church bells' loud rings.
Fesseau said neighbours visiting from the city should adapt to the countryside's noises.
"When we (countryside residents) go to the city, we tolerate the noise, we don't like it, but we adapt," she said. "So when they (city residents) come to the countryside, they should do the same thing."
In Fesseau's village, locals have been backing Maurice. Local business owner Benoit Guitton has started selling T-shirts in support of the rooster.
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