Rooster’s right to crow being tested in court

A German farmer is defending her rooster’s right to crow in a court case that has attracted nationwide attention and is reinforcing calls for the sounds of rural life to be protected.

Since 2018, the mixed-breed, broadchested cockerel called Meister Eder has been annoying a neighbour, who has demanded that he be shut in a soundproof room at night and has taken the owner, Karin Pfeifer-Rockenfeller, to court.

She has countered that locking

Meister Eder away would harm his health because the soundproofing required would make his coop too warm.

‘‘I’m going to see this through to the end,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ve been here 30 years, and this is a farming area. If my neighbour is so sensitive to noise, he should move his bed or put earplugs in.’’

She referred to sound measurements by a TV crew dispatched to her farm in the village of Abtweiler in southwestern Germany. They found that Meister Eder’s crowing emitted about 70 decibels when he was outside, slightly quieter than a vacuum cleaner. The next day at 5.30am, when he emitted his first cocka-doodle-doo while inside his coop, they measured 54.5dB, about the volume of an electric toothbrush. The neighbour has filed a legal complaint, and a hearing is due to take place at the district court in Bad Sobernheim. Pfeifer-Rockenfeller has started campaigning on behalf of a petition calling on Germany to follow France’s example and protect the sensory heritage of rural life. It has more than 37,000 supporters.