Noisy frogs may have croaked their last after police called over neighbours’ row
Three large frogs could face eviction from their pond in Savoie, France, as complaints about their noise have brought the gendarmes knocking.
Colette Ferry, 92, who lives in the Alpine village of Frontenex, was greeted by two officers recently, who informed her they would be removing the amphibians that were enjoying her garden pond.
They said they were responding to a complaint by a neighbour, who was unable to sleep because of the loud croaking.
Ms Ferry told them she did not own the frogs, but that they had taken up residence in her pond. “They’re in and out of the water playing with my fish. It’s my entertainment,” she told a local radio station.
“A man came here and was really yelling at me, saying he could not sleep and he had to work … but I did not expect the gendarmes. Especially not for frogs!
“But there’s always someone ready to complain about someone else.”
She seemed confident the frogs have not croaked their last, and added that she was looking forward to watching the gendarmes try to capture them.
“That’ll be fun… they jump,” she said.
The dispute has once again highlighted the tension between those living rurally and city dwellers who have moved out or own a second home.
Countryside animals have previously survived attempts at being silenced by discontented urbanites. In 2019, a French judge ruffled feathers by rejecting a complaint about Maurice the rooster’s dawn squawking.
The complaint was made by a retired couple who had a second home on the Île d’Oléron in western France, which was next to Corinne Fesseau’s farm, where Maurice lived.
Their complaint triggered a huge “I am Maurice” support campaign on social media, and more 1,000 people signed a petition supporting the rooster.
In 2019, rural France saw a spate of court appearances involving noisy animals. In Dordogne in south-west France, a couple faced legal action because of loud frogs, and in the town of Beausset, tourists incensed the local mayor by suggesting he cull cicadas because of their chatter.
