Bavarian court blocks noise pollution case against cow bells
A German court threw out a complaint filed by a Bavarian couple over noise pollution caused by cows on Wednesday. The ruling is only the latest turn in the widely publicized legal saga which prompted a debate about Bavarian identity.
The trouble started in 2014, three years after the married couple took ownership of a house near a dairy farm in the rural village of Holzkirchen, some 34 kilometers (21 miles) south of Munich. The two complained to their neighbor, Regina Killer, about the cowbell noise, the smell of cow dung, and insects coming from her meadow outside their house. The plaintiffs’ names were not made public.
Read more: Bavaria’s runaway cow Yvonne has returned
According to the couples’ lawyer, the cowbell noise reached 70 decibels (comparable to a vacuum cleaner) in their bedroom, according to the DPA news agency. The plaintiffs claimed the noise was causing them depression and sleeping disorders, and also bringing down their property value.
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Living next door to malice
Moo(t) point
Depression, insomnia and nightmares: that’s how a couple living outside Munich describe the unending clashes with their neighbor. The source of noise pollution eating away at their quality of life? The neighbor has a herd of bovines on her green pastures, whose cow bells keep the couple awake at night. A heff-ty price to pay for country living.
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Living next door to malice
Pint-sized anger
Germans adore their garden gnomes, but too much of a good thing can result in litigation. There have been numerous court cases in Germany over the impish little lawn dwellers offending neighbors. Be it pygmy-sized Nazi salutes or exposed kobold buttocks, garden gnomes are known to polarize public opinion and drive neighbors asunder.
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Living next door to malice
Dolled up neighbor
In a recent case in Bavaria, a man did the neighborly thing and left a sex doll on his patio, facing his neighbor’s property. The police had to intervene and notify the puppet’s owner that provocations featuring genitalia were illegal. According to reports, the man complied – by turning the doll around to face the other way.
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Living next door to malice
Fences make good neighbors?
In 1999, a courtroom TV show in Germany gained notoriety when a woman from Saxony sued her neighbor (pictured here) for refusing to get rid of his snowberry bush, which apparently was damaging her wire-mesh fence. To be fair, the case attracted more attention due to the woman’s thick accent rather than for the petty dispute itself. There are some things that only happen in Germany.
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Living next door to malice
Baking up a smoke
We may all have different standards of cleanliness but in 2017, one woman in the eastern German town of Bautzen could no longer take the chaos at the bakery next door. One day, after spotting rats at said establishment, the senior citizen decided to go ahead and sanitize the place the only way she knew how: by setting it on fire. Needless to say, she was later sent to prison for arson.
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Living next door to malice
Crossing the line
As trivial as some of these disputes may sound, rows between neighbors can actually end deadly. In southern Germany, a man shot his neighbor dead in 2013 because of a dispute on the property line between the two attached houses. Each year, there are several reports of murder between neighbors in Germany. So best be careful around your neighbors with your garden gnomes, cow bells and sex dolls.
Wife’s lawsuit still pending
In 2015, the couple and the dairy farmer agreed to have the cows graze only at specific areas of the meadow, keeping at least 20 meters (65 feet) from the house, according to Der Spiegel magazine. However, the couple later claimed the sound of cowbells was still unbearably loud.
Both the husband and the wife filed separate lawsuits to combat the issue before the first-degree court in Munich. Both of those lawsuits were defeated. The husband then brought the dispute before a higher court, which threw out his complaint on Wednesday. The wife’s plea is still due to be considered before the second-degree court.
Read more: Bavarian cow freed from bridge after wanting more from life
Arguments presented during the trials echoed across Bavaria and the whole Germany, as a neighborly dispute over cowbell noise turned into a debate about Bavarian traditions and clashing cultures.
“What is at stake is whether cowbells can be considered an appropriate part of agriculture in our region,” Holzkirchen mayor Olaf von Löwis was quoted as saying by the Irish Indepenent in December.
No GPS
The farmer, Regina Killer, has argued that cowbell noise was soothing and part of living in the country. She also said that the cowbells are needed to keep track of the animals in case they break through the fence. The woman rejected the suggestion of equipping the cows with a modern GPS tracker instead of a traditional cowbell, saying there was not enough experience with this technology in the region.
In turn, the neighbors claimed there was no need for cowbells with cattle grazing in an enclosed area, and pointed to many modern dairy farms that do not use them.
Following the Wednesday ruling, the head of Bavarian state parliament Ilse Aigner said she was happy about the decision.
“This is about the newcomers and long-time residents living together,” she wrote on Twitter. “Cows with cowbells on a meadow belong to our lifestyle!”
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/bavarian-court-blocks-noise-pollution-case-against-cow-bells/a-48281207?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf