An unusual essay for the song of a rooster paralyzes France

Corinne Fesseau, the owner of the bad Maurice / afp

The trial of a rooster denounced for singing too early for his neighbors on a tourist island in southwestern France, which keeps the Gallic country in suspense, will be solved on September 5, as announced yesterday as a result of An audience in which the bird was accused of "sound damage".

Maurice, as it is called the rooster in question, was not present at the hearing held in the court of Rochefort for "fatigue", according to its owner, as well as for his plaintiffs, a couple retirees and their neighbors during the holidays this is happening on the island of Oléron.

However, they moved "to support" the owner of Mauritius, Corinne Fesseau, "Pompadour" and "Jean-René", a chick and a huge rooster, as well as a dozen people, including a family from Costa Rica, I was visiting friends. The whole group waved small banners saying "we care about our roosters on the island".

The truth is that Mauritius has attracted the attention of thousands of people and has become the symbol of rural "resistance" in France, and even made the cover of the New York Times.

It all started because Maurice's sneer at dawn was bothering the owners of a nearby second home in Saint-Pierre de Oleron.

For lawyer Vincent Huberdeau, who represents the plaintiffs, it is not a "trial" of the city against the ground.It is a problem of sound damage. the dog, the horn, the music … it's a folder on the sound ".

Saint-Pierre de Oleron has "nearly 7,000 inhabitants in winter and 35,000 in summer," he explained, "my clients live in a residential area clbadified in the urban plan. This is not the pitch! "

Counsel for the plaintiffs insisted that it was not a conflict between "snobbish citizens and peasants".

"My clients do not blame the rooster that they sing, they pretend to be calm between 6:30 and 8:30 am."

"I'm stunned," replied lawyer Julien Papineau, who defends the owner and his tail.

Ironically, he added that "I am not sure that the plaintiffs say," buy a house in town, on the island of Oléron "".

"The henhouse can move, but that means that instead there will be the fishing boxes of Jacky, Corinne Fesseau's husband, but in that case will the neighbors tolerate the smell?" ", Said the rooster's lawyer Maurice, who concluded his statement by stating that" the henhouses have always existed.On 40 neighbors, it only disturbs two people. "

For the owner of Mauritius, "the land is entitled to its noises.The rooster has the right to sing, the roosters do not sing from 4:30 in the morning indefinitely."

"My dick does not bother me Sing and tell me it's fine, long live nature!" Added Fesseau.

Breeder Aurélia Vozel, who brought the Pompadour chick and the rooster Jean-René to justice, said that "we are here because we are afraid that the verdict will be based on case law".

At the same time, some 155,000 people have signed petitions in recent months in favor of Mauritius. Bruno Dionis du Séjour, mayor of the small town of Gajac, even advocates that the sounds of the countryside be clbadified in the "national heritage" French.