鳴き声うるさいと射殺、おんどりの正義求める署名に７万人超

【プリバＡＦＰ＝時事】フランスで、鳴き声にうんざりした隣人におんどりが射殺される事件があり、これに抗議するオンライン請願書に7万4000筆以上の署名が集まっている。（写真は資料写真）
　「マルセルに正義を」と求める嘆願活動を始めたのは、５月に殺されたおんどり「マルセル」の飼い主、セバスチャン・ベルネイさん。ベルネイさんが暮らす人口４５０人の南部バンジュー村では、マルセルの死を受けて動揺が広がった。
　ＡＦＰの取材に応じたベルネイさんは、「この悲劇に深くショックを受けている」「田舎の生活スタイルは、処罰されない行為による攻撃をますます受けている」と語った。
　ベルネイさんの隣人は、マルセルを撃ち殺したことを認めている。動物虐待や武器の不正使用などの罪に問われており、１２月に裁判にかけられる予定となっている。
　フランスではおんどりが非公式ながらも国の象徴となっており、ラグビーやサッカーの代表チームのエンブレムにもなっている。
　「歌わせてくれ」との副題が付いたオンライン請願書には、１７日までに７万４５００人超が署名した。
　嘆願書は、死んだマルセルはベルネイ家自慢の番人だったと述べ、「子どもたちへの愛情にあふれ、私たち家族に喜びをもたらしてくれた。その鳴き声とニワトリ小屋での立派な存在感によって、私たちの日々の生活を刻んでくれた」としている。
　バンジュー村にマルセルの姿はもうないが、マルセルは後継ぎの子ども５羽を残してくれたと、ベルネイさんは語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/08/19-10:20）

A French rooster named Marcel has amassed over 74,000 signatures on a petition protesting against his early demise by the gun of a neighbour fed up with his crowing.
The petition demanding Justice for Marcel was created by Sebastien Verney, the cockerel's owner and resident of Vinzieux, a village of 450 people in southern France left rattled by the killing in May this year.
We have been profoundly shocked by this tragedy, Verney told AFP.
The rural way of life is increasingly under attack from behaviour that is not punished.
Verney's neighbour has admitted to shooting the bird.
The rooster serves as the unofficial symbol of France and the emblem of its rugby and football teams.
The neighbour has been charged with animal cruelty and unlawful use of a weapon among other offences and is due to go on trial in December.
An online petition for Marcel, with the subheading Let us sing had gathered more than 74,500 signatures by Monday.
It describes the deceased bird as a proud defender of Verney's family home, full of love for our children and bringing joy to our home, punctuating our daily life with his crowing and his beautiful presence in the henhouse.
It is not the first time a fight over a rooster has galvanised the French.
Le Coq Maurice became a symbol of tension between rural France and encroaching urbanity in a court battle over his early-morning crowing after a retired couple with a holiday home on the island of Oleron in western France took legal action to try and silence him.
Judges last year upheld the bird's right to start the day with a cheery cock-a-doodle-doo (cocorico in French), in what was seen as a triumph for rural traditions.
The fight over Maurice, who died of natural causes in May, led to a draft law to be brought before parliament introducing the concept of sensory heritage in rural France.
It seeks to protect countryside residents from legal action over normal sounds and smells associated with raising chickens and cows, among other noisy animals that are an integral part of rural life.
Just last November, a French court had to issue a ruling allowing a flock of ducks residing in a backyard in the southwestern Landes region to keep quacking after complaints from neighbours.
Back in Vinzieux, Marcel may be no more, but he left a legacy of five youngsters raring to take up his mantle, said Verney.