A family of frogs has caused a neighbourhood dispute after moving into an elderly woman’s back garden. Residents of Frontenex, a commune in the French department of Savoie, say they have been kept awake by the tiny amphibians for years. Their “constant croaking” has led to a growing campaign to remove them from a 92-year-old homeowner’s garden that involved local police.
Colette Ferry told local news outlets that three frogs moved into a small pond in her back garden in 2021.
Speaking to Franceinfo, she said they make “a little noise” but they have infuriated her neighbours.
While she said she “can’t hear them”, other locals have complained of “day and night” croaking.
Occupants of three neighbouring homes sent her a letter, shared with the local town hall, in April 2021.
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They asked her to act on the “nuisance” caused by her resident frogs, claiming the “loud and constant” noise is “difficult to bear at certain times”.
The sounds emanating from the pond become more accentuated during the spring and summer months – from April to August – during mating season.
France’s National Forestry Office said male frogs “emit a song consisting of a muffled snore imitating the sound of a train passing in the distance” during the season.
The neighbours claimed the excessive noise prevented them from enjoying their open spaces in sunny weather.
Green frogs, the office added, are known to be “extremely noisy” with their rumblings “both day and night”, especially when the weather is calm or stormy.
They added that it meant they couldn’t “leave our windows open at night”.
But Ms Ferry did not respond to her neighbour’s requests, stating frogs have always lived in her pond.
The noise eventually became so unbearable that the complainants involved the police.
Gendarmes visited the grandmother’s home, and a fishery officer followed, but they could not move the frogs.
The Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), the national body responsible for wildlife protection, later intervened on Ms Ferry’s side, stating local laws mean the frogs cannot be moved.
The neighbours have since won their case, however, and officials will move the frogs to nearby Lake Saint-Vital.
One resident, Boumedienne B, said the frogs “have nothing to do here”, and that they should be taken to the lake, “where they will be happy”.
He told Franceinfo he had a good relationship with Ms Ferry and didn’t want the issue to go to court, as “it would not be humane”.
While the frogs are on their way out, the 92-year-old and her granddaughter believe they will eventually return.
She said the frogs “came by themselves”, and Marianne Granier added: “They will come back by themselves.”
She added: “That’s where they lay eggs. We don’t make nature.”
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega
