Ducks have won a court case allowing them to keep on quacking.
A French court has rejected a neighbor’s complaint about the racket from a small farm in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
Retired farmer Dominique Douthe told Reuters: “The ducks have won. I’m very happy because I didn’t want to slaughter my ducks.”
The court in the town of Dax ruled the noise from her flock – which includes around 60 ducks and geese – was at an acceptable level, despite complaints from a new resident who moved from the city about a year ago.
The neighbour moved into a property about 50 yards away from the flock’s enclosure before started the dispute.
According to the Independent, “the neighbor’s lawyer claimed the noise exceeded permissible levels and prevented the neighbor enjoying their garden or sleeping with their house windows open.
The dispute is the latest in a series of court cases that have seen rural French traditions, especially farmyard noises, challenged by new residents.
A retired couple who had bought a second home on Oleron, an island off the French Atlantic coast, complained that a cockerel’s early morning crowing was disruptive.”