French judge rules rooster can crow

A French couple filed a complaint against their neighbors two years ago claiming their rooster, Maurice, was too loud. A tribunal on Thursday rejected their argument and ordered the couple to pay the rooster’s owner, Corinne Fesseau, 1,000 euros in damages.

What’s the big deal? The original complaint sparked a petition that gathered 120,000 signatures and a social media campaign supporting Maurice, who became a symbol of the clash between rural residents and city-dwellers with holiday homes. A few recent cases have pitted French vacationers against the regular noises of rural areas, like cow and church bells, cicadas, and duck quacks. One retired farmer and village mayor in southwest France has even asked the government to give such rural sounds state protection by declaring them a national heritage, The Guardian reported.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz and Jenny Lind Schmitt’s report on how the Notre Dame Cathedral fire brought the clash between France’s Christian past and secular present into greater relief.