The Gallic rooster is an eternal symbol of France, but not air stewardesses.
His name is Coco and he’s recently made the headlines not only in France but all over the world. National papers like the Guardian and the New York Times reported the story behind this preposterous lawsuit.
You’d probably assume that Coco is an extraordinary bird with superpowers but . . . he’s just an ordinary cock living peacefully in his henhouse on the Oléron Island, just off Rochefort.
But he’s not letting the people living around him have any peace! Because as you would expect, each dawn, Coco does what he does best: he crows.
C O C O R I C O !
A wake-up call that is not at all to the liking of one of nearest neighbours.
A retired couple bought a holiday home there and they cannot bear to be awakened in the morning by Coco’s gracious song.
Coco’s owner received a legal notice claiming the noise was a health risk.Another neighbour, a stewardess, who could not recover from his offbeat and often restrictive schedules explained that she could no longer sleep during the day because she was too often awakened by the rooster.
The mayor of the island is on Coco side “I consider we are in a rural setting here. The crowing of the cockerel is part of that setting.” Put simply, “I will protect the cockerel in order to defend our way of life.”
But this did not convince the plaintiffs and they brought the case to Court.
Nicolas Boucher, the owner, said that the municipal police and a judge came to see the vocal abilities of the rooster. Result: crowing 23 times in 26 minutes.
“There is even a judge who came to enjoy the rooster’s song, I could not believe it, the public money seems a little wasted. It demoralizes me, I am already at more than 2,000€ of legal fees in this business, they are finishing me financially”, laments Nicolas Boucher, who complied with the judgment by taking Maurice to live with a friend. “I moved Coco to the city center, there he is not bothered … I’m going to see him every day, I hope I’m going to win the judgment, that he can find his chicken coop”
Pending the appeal judgment, Boucher launched a Facebook page , as well as an online petition which has already collected more than 50,000 signatures because 2,000€ is an awful lot of eggs . . .