The neighbors complained about the noise, went to court and the court allowed the rooster to continue

Maurice the rooster, you can continue to laugh. This was ordered by a French court when he dismissed a complaint from neighbors who had filed a lawsuit for the annoying noise.

The pursuit against the bird – as well as church bells, bells, cicadas and farm smells – sparked a national debate on how to protect rural culture from the expectations more badociated with urban areas.

The owner of Mauritius, Corinne Fesseau, can keep her rooster on the small island of Oléron, on the Atlantic coast of France, decided the court. Frustrated neighbors consider attractive.

Fesseau's lawyer, Julien Papineau, told The Associated Press that his client "is happy, she cried when I told her the court's decision."

The first slams of Mauritius exasperate the neighbors of Fesseau, a retired couple who settled on the island two years ago. They asked the court to send the animal away or to close it.

Judge de Rochefort, in the south-west of the country, ordered Fesseau to pay 1,000 euros (1,005 US dollars) for the repair of his reputation and legal costs.

"It hurt my clients very badly," said Vincent Huberdeau, his lawyer, who said Fesseau voluntarily placed the chicken coop near neighbors' windows, making Mauritius a well-known cause of rural traditions. The judge went on to punish the plaintiffs, he added.

The case also proved counterproductive in the court of public opinion. More than 120,000 people signed a petition urging the authorities to leave Mauritius alone and a "support committee" made up of roosters and chickens from the region presented to support their landlord at the July trial.

"The countryside is living and making noise, as well as the rooster," said one of his streamers.

This decision was good news for a group of ducks in the Landes, in southwestern France, where neighbors sued farmers for their cries and their scent of birds.

Authorities also condemned the inhabitants of a French Alps village who complained in 2017 of these boring bells and also failed last year's efforts to take cicadas from a town in the French Alps. south to protect tourists from their summer song.

Since the history of Mauritius has been revealed, some French lawmakers have suggested adopting a law to protect the sounds and smells of the countryside as part of France's rural heritage.