After 9-Year Fight, Couple Ordered to Dump Superloud Frogs

[Demovictory9]

After 9-Year Fight, Couple Ordered to Dump Superloud Frogs
French couple still hopes to save their pond and its breeding amphibians

A French couple is being forced to drain their pond under court order because of the racket caused by its breeding frogs. The outcome is the result of a nine-year legal battle in which Michel and Annie Pecheras fought to save their pond in the small village of Grignols, Dordogne.



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Around 2008, the couple re-dug an old pond that had previously been filled in, though they say they moved it farther away from neighbors. The distance apparently wasn't enough for neighbor Jean-Louis Malfione, who sued in 2012 over the croaks of breeding frogs in the pond. A bailiff then determined the frogs' croaks during mating season registered at 63 decibels in the open window of Malfione's bedroom, per the Guardian. The Telegraph reports that's about as loud as an operating washing machine or vacuum.

The case was thrown out in 2014, then revived before landing with a judge who sided with Malfione this month, per the Guardian. From Dec. 3, the Pecheras will have 90 days to drain the pond, which is more than 3,000 square feet, and get rid of the frogs. Otherwise, they say they'll be forced to pay nearly $16,000 to Malfione, plus a $180 fine for each day of delay. Work has already begun. But the Pecherases haven't completely given up their fight. "In the North of France, municipalities give grants for the creation of ponds in gardens. Is there a difference between the north and the south of France?" the two write in an online petition calling to "save the frogs." It has received more than 96,000 signatures in three days. Meanwhile, a local environmental group is appealing the decision to France's highest court.

https://www.newser.com/story/300112/court-orders-eviction-of-frogs-as-loud-as-a-vacuum.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_login

[Quixote1818]

1. Don't get it. We have super loud toads in a pond in my neighborhood. I like the sound. nt

[Demovictory9]

3. sometimes I find crickets intolerable... when they are super close

[Arne]

7. We speak Frog.

Harumph croake ackk gurk.

[Quixote1818]

16. The toads here sound like screaming Banshees.

This only 10000 times louder.

[LeftInTX]

18. Sounds like a cat!

[shanti]

21. Like air

coming out of a balloon! Funny how he lifts his hind leg when he does it, lol.

[Laelth]

13. Defendant homeowner CHANGED the land.

If the frogs had been there all along, I would agree with Defendants, but because Defendants changed the land in a way that materially and negatively affected the innocent Plaintiffs, Defendants have created a public nuisance that must be abated. I agree with the ruling of the second judge.

-Laelth

[hlthe2b]

2. I'd live next to them and their loud frogs. I hope they pervail.

[Chainfire]

4. I wonder who they would go after when the cicadas down here kick up a fuss?

[jmbar2]

5. What's for dinner?

Frog legs.

[milestogo]

6. And now the neighbors are complaining about the couple fighting loudly.

[RainCaster]

8. We have Chorus Frogs every Spring in our pond, so do our neigbors

They are so incredibly loud- they are listed as one of the loudest creatures on earth, up there with the Blue Whale, Kookaburra , and Howler Monkey. It's only for two weeks, then they go away.
We all love them, they were here before we came. It's their forest we are living in.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. Hello! Ma Baby

Frog Hello, My Baby
666,075 views•Jul 29, 2013

NEVERMIND
473 subscribers

HELLO MY BABY !
(Ida Emerson / Joseph E. Howard)

{snip}

Hello! Ma Baby

{snip}

The song may be best known today as the introductory song in the famous Warner Bros. cartoon One Froggy Evening (1955), sung by the character later dubbed Michigan J. Frog and high-stepping in the style of a cakewalk.

{snip}

[Liberal In Texas]

10. We have a pond and every spring we have toads that show up

and do their thing. They are very loud, but you really can't hear them that well in the house with the windows closed. Because we have like, you know, air conditioning. Malfion needs to close his damned windows and if necessary soundproof his house if he expects to not ever hear anything that goes on in nature.

Plus this isn't year round. Only in the early spring. I hope the couple is able to get this overturned.

[tblue37]

22. Many homes in Europe *dont* have air conditioning.

[samnsara]

11. maybe Angel will buy them for her moat!

...for those who follow Escape to the Chateau.

[LisaL]

12. Leave froggies alone!

As for dude suing-close your darn window. Don't sit there listening to the froggies.

[nuxvomica]

14. 63 decibals! That's quiet around here

Between the leaf blowers and the constant thrumming of riding mowers, which my neighbors seem to need for their postage-stamp lawns, I'd welcome things settling down to 63-decibals of frog croaking.

[Cirque du So-What]

15. A French couple

The jokes write themselves.

[pandr32]

17. We have Coqui frogs here and have gotten used to their croaking

They are the loudest, too, according to National Geographic. They reach 96 decibels.
At first when we moved here it was bothersome, but then we accepted and adjusted. They sing us to sleep now.
It is sad that this happened to this French couple. A pair of ear plugs, or a closed bedroom window would have solved the problem. Maybe the neighbors are just jerks who have no appreciation for nature.

[jcgoldie]

19. If you don't want to hear nature...

...dont open the fucking window...

[tblue37]

23. Many homes in Europe don't have air conditioning. But they still do have hot weather.

[jcgoldie]

24. Get a fan

Or get over themselves... they are frogs not jackhammers.

[Vinnie From Indy]

20. The neighbor could have just started raising and releasing snakes.

The snakes would have taken care of the froggies.

[Arne]

25. He may have to bring them over,,, On a Plane.

[Sogo]

26. This is not unlike the nuisance created by CAFOs in my own state and addressed by nuisance lawsuits.

CAFO = Confined Animal Feeding Operation.

"The smell of money," protest the farmers.

But toxic air is toxic air and can cause disease....not to mention the plummeting property values of nearby homeowners and the polluting of groundwater sources.

I'm on the side of Mssr. Malfione....

[Arne]

27. No.

CAFO= Can A Frog Orate.

[Vinca]

28. We have some little tree frogs that make a racket, but I like the sound.

I'll take frogs any day instead of the idiots who think it's wonderful to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon target shooting or riding noisy ATVs around.