An 83-year-old man was ordered to pay a 166 euro fine after he failed to prevent his pet rooster from crowing at 4:30 in the morning, which some of his neighbors had complained about.

Angelo Boletti, a pensioner from the Italian town of Castiraga Vidardo, in Lombardy, was found to have violated local rules, which state that pets must be kept at a minimum distance of 10 metres from neighboring homes. But the real problem was that the pet in question, a rooster named Carlino, crowed loudly as early as 4:30 in the morning and waking up the neighbors.

After receiving several complaints about the bird’s morning routine, police started monitoring Carlino, and after confirming his early crowing decided to fine the retired bricklayer.

“I’m speechless. What need was there?” Boletti told Italian newspaper Il Citadino. “They could have told me before about the distance [rule]. I didn’t understand.”

Emma Perfetti, the mayor of Castiraga Vidardo, told journalists that local authorities had no choice but to take action in this case, because of the numerous complaints from neighbors.

Apparently, a police officer staked out Boletti’s villa during the night, and confirmed that Carlino started crowing at around 4:30 in the morning and continued to do so until around 6:00 am.

While the 83-year-old complained about not being warned before receiving the fine, Mayor Perfetti claims that he had been visited by police early July and told about the 10 meters from neighbors rule. However, he insisted that the rooster was only there temporarily, and would be gone in less than 20 days.

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In his defense, Angelo Boletti said that Carlino had been his pet rooster for 10 years, before being given away to a friend due to the neighbors complaints about his crowing. He had only recently returned, and only temporarily, as his friend was on holiday for 20 days.

The 83-year-old said he plans on appealing the fine to hopefully have it annulled.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time when a rooster’s loud crows triggered controversial legal battles. Last year, a French family was sued because Maurice, one of their roosters, crowed too loudly in the morning and disturbed some of the neighbors.