(CNN) A rooster called Maurice was Thursday put on trial in western France, in an unusual case that has come to symbolize the divide between urban and rural communities.

The copper-feathered cockerel is the defendant in a court battle stemming from a long-running neighborhood dispute over his early morning crowing.

His owner Corinne Fesseau told CNN that neighbors in the village of Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron, on the Isle of Oléron, first complained in April 2017, asking her to keep Maurice quiet.

"I've lived here for 35 years, it's never bothered anyone," she said.

However the neighbors accuse Maurice of causing noise pollution and the case was heard by the court in Rochefort, Charente Maritime on Thursday.

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