Roosters Crowing Create Noise Complaint in Australia

AUSTRALIA - An Alice Springs woman has threatened court action against the local council to prevent them from evicting roosters from her suburban back yard after 13 noise complaints from her neighbours.
calendar icon 6 October 2014
clock icon 3 minute read

Stana Camelin has kept poultry on her Gillen property for 25 years and said raising all manner of birds, including the roosters, was soothing, reports ABCNews.

"I think it has a tendency to keep you very sane with all the pressures of work and pressure of my husband's health, it takes me away," she said.

But neighbours have complained of sleepless nights as the roosters regularly start crowing between 1:00am and 3:00am.

Neighbour Chris Kupke said he lodged a complaint because the lack of sleep has been hurting his work, which includes driving an ambulance.

"It's been going on since I moved in there three years ago, I can honestly say there's very few full nights sleep that I've had in that amount of time," he said.

"Just walking around with your eyes hanging out of your head all day."

Mr Kupke would like to see roosters banned in any suburban area.

"I've got friends in Brisbane and Perth and when I tell them they're just amazed in the Northern Territory's second largest city you can still have roosters there," he said.

"One asked if we're still getting around in horse and carts," he said.

Neighbour Chris Kupke says he has not had a decent night's sleep since he moved in three years ago.

But Ms Camelin has disputed Mr Kupke's complaint that her cocks crow in the early hours.

"He says he hears the roosters crowing at 1:00am and 3:00am and then all day and he can't get any sleep," she said.

"I have recordings that I have done of my roosters, actually I set it up in my yard and I leave it on all night, and the roosters don't crow until about maybe 5:45am or 6:00am."

Ms Camelin said she would prefer much quieter hens but her birds are hatched at home and there is a 50-50 chance of a rooster.

She said she has tried sound-proofing.

"I've lined the poultry shed with cardboard and now I've put in some styrofoam also, it subdues the noise," she said.

At the start of the year the council served Ms Camelin a notice demanding her roosters be permanently removed from the property.

According to ABCNew, her response came through a lawyer, who pointed out there was no law against keeping roosters in Alice Springs and the council could not prove they were being a nuisance.

"I feel that if they win with me they will take it further and it become a precedent with the council and everybody else can start losing their poultry."

The Alice Springs Town Council is expected to decide on whether to uphold its removal notice later this month.

Charlotte Rowney

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