From roosters crowing to the smell of corral animals, the “sensory heritage” of the French countryside will now be protected by law from attempts to stifle the everyday aspects of rural life for newcomers in search of peace and tranquility.
On Thursday, French senators gave final approval to a proposed law following a number of high-profile conflicts by village residents and tourists, or newcomers considered “neo-rural”.
A rowdy rooster named Maurice, in particular, made headlines in 2019 after a court in western France rejected an offer to have him silenced by neighbors who had bought a nearby holiday home.
“Living in the countryside means accepting some inconvenience,” Joël Giraud, the government minister responsible for rural life, told lawmakers.
Cow bells (and cow droppings), grasshopper chirps and noisy tractors at dawn are also now considered part of France’s natural heritage, which will be codified in its environmental legislation.
“It sends a strong message,” said Pierre-Antoine Lévi, the senator who served as the project’s rapporteur. “It can function as a useful tool for local authorities in carrying out their educational and mediation functions.”
The law is emblematic of the growing tensions in the countryside between long-time residents and outsiders whose bucolic expectations often clash with everyday reality.
Corinne Fesseau and her cock Maurice became the image of the fight when it was brought to court by retirees from the house next door because of the bird’s shrill screams.
Critics saw the process as part of a broader threat to France’s sacred rural heritage by strangers and city dwellers unable or unwilling to understand the reality of country life.
Thousands of people signed a “Save Maurice” petition, and a judge ended up accepting the cock-a-doodle-doos.
In another case in 2019, a woman at the heart of duck farming in the Landes region was brought to court by a newly arrived neighbor, fed up with the babbling of ducks and geese in her backyard.
A court in southwest France also dismissed the case.