A legal battle broke out between neighbors over the croaking of some frogs in a pond

A dispute between neighbors over the loud croaking of frogs in a pond particularly threatens to reach the Supreme Court of Austria, after a regional court has annulled an initial ruling that considered sound and forced the owner to pay 30,000 euros.

According to what public television reported this Monday ORFthe Regional Court of the city of Linz has ruled in second instance that The croaking of frogs is a «natural phenomenon» that must be tolerated.

This implies that Wolfgang Knoll, in whose garden there is a pond where more and more frogs have settled, cannot be forced to take measures to scare them away or to muffle the noise of their croaking.

The Justice annulled an initial sentence that considered

The ruling is not yet final and the plaintiff, a resident of Knoll, can still appeal to the Supreme Court.

The case, that has been occupying the Austrian Justice for more than two yearsbegan with the lawsuit of a citizen of the town of Pasching, in the federal state of Upper Austria, who asked to put an end to the noise caused by his neighbor’s frogs at night, as they took away hours of sleep.

First ruling against frogs

Last August, the first instance ruling sentenced Knoll to compensate the plaintiff, bear the costs of the trial and take measures against the noise made by the animals.

A court ruled in second instance that frog croaking is a

The judges then ruled that the frogs that had been settling and breeding in Knoll’s private pond were too noisy and that their croaking constituted «noise pollution.»

Consequently, the owner had to pay 30,000 euros (about $34,900) between compensation to the neighbor and costs of the process.

In addition, by court order, he had to take measures to put an end to this noise pollution.

A law in Austria defends frogs (Pixabay).

According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, the court had determined that in this case the frogs had proliferated «explosively.»

The new ruling considers that the frogs enjoy protection and determines that they have been appearing in the pond «naturally»without intervention of the owner.

In Upper Austria Frogs are a protected species and, according to the Nature Conservation Law, «they cannot be pursued, disturbed, captured, transported, kept or slaughtered» and prohibits any damage or destruction of the breeding or resting places of protected animals.

EFE Agency.