'kokkarakko' ~ neighbours complain to wake-up call of rooster

"Cock a doodle doo" is a popular English language nursery rhyme – the corresponding sound is ‘Kokkarakko’ in Tamil – coming from an icon of the morning.  In rural areas, people are used to hearing the sound of rooster in the morning.  The sound at dawn will double as wake-up call ! .. For sure a holy place does need a reference to cinema to be famous – yet Thiruporur was associated with the hit movie   ‘Kanthaswamy’ …. Super hero, unearthing of black money, doing good to depraved in the name of God.  The hero Robinhood  ‘Kanthasamy’ would punch a rooster on face ! and Vadivelu donning a rooster was a good comedy.  But why do birds let out such sounds in the morning ?

According to Scientists, it is not the sight of the Sun rising - roosters don't need the light of a new day to know when it's dawn—rather, their internal clocks alert them to the time.  In a stimulated research, when the roosters were subjected to cycles of 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dim light, the birds crowed about two hours before the lights came on. In conditions kept constantly dim, the roosters also continued to vocalize early in the "morning," suggesting that their internal body clocks, or circadian rhythms, were involved in timing their crows at dawn. The researchers at Nagoya University in Japan were studying the genetic underpinnings of innate vocalizations—or nonlearned behaviors such as crowing—in chickens, they discovered that the male birds don't need external light cues to know when to start crowing.  That sound may not be too pleasing to everyone is what a family in Somerset found out to their dismay !

UK papers during Aug 2012  suggested that a noisy rooster could land its owners with a fine of up to £5,000 after neighbours complained about the early wake-up call. It was stated that Rodney the rooster, owned by Matt and Kerrie Summers, starts crowing as early as 3.43am for up to 76 times over a three-hour period. Fed-up with the early morning racket, their neighbours set up recording equipment to monitor the noise and  the  Council officials served Mr and Mrs Summers with a noise abatement notice.

The couple, who live in a residential area of Bath, have said they may now have to look for a new home for their beloved rooster.  The father-of-four, who lives with Kerrie, 34, a nursery nurse, bought Rodney for £20 to stop his seven chickens - which provide eggs for the family - from fighting. The couple have been warned that they could face a fine of up to £5,000 after neighbours complained about their noisy rooster's early morning crowing.  They said that the children see Rodney as their pet and they would be really upset if  they were to get rid of him. They said, 'Our house looks out on to fields and there is a farm nearby. We thought that crowing and clucking noises might fit in with that quite nicely.

 When the council came round they told us we could face a £5,000 fine every time he breaches the order. 'He crows up to 300 times a week, there is no way that we could afford that.'  Rodney lives in the family's terraced garden with a mixture of brown and coloured hens.  Environmental health officers have advised their neighbours in Weston to set up recording equipment to monitor the racket made by the bird.  It is stated that Rodney the rooster can begin his dawn chorus as early as 3.43am.

Mr Summers said he was frustrated that the definition of noise nuisance appeared to be subjective. 'Mainly I think that they shouldn't be complaining about the noise from one cockerel when in the surrounding farm there are sheep, cows and a donkey who makes plenty of noise.'  Bath and North East Somerset Council received complaints from three of Mr Summers’ neighbours, following which the council placed its own recording equipment in one resident’s bedroom. In a statement, the council said: 'These complaints relate to the bird crowing seven days a week as early as 3.43am for up to 76 times over a three-hour period.

The council served a  noise abatement notice - Should the notice be breached, the owner of the cockerel would be breaking the law. Whether it was indeed broken and how much the owners of Rodney were fined is not known !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

6^th Feb 2015.