The fate of 60 ducks and geese living in an enclosure kept by retired farmer Dominique Douthe was momentarily up in the air.

Ms Douthe’s neighbours, who recently moved to the French countryside from the city, complained that the birds next door were so loud that they were making their lives a misery.

However, after an expert acoustic assessment, the court in south-west France ruled that the ducks were quacking within permissible noise levels, The Guardian reports.

After the ruling, Ms Douthe said: “The ducks have won. I’m very happy because I didn’t want to slaughter them.”