BERLIN (Reuters) -- Before leaving on vacation, a German couple set up a loudspeaker and timer rigged to blast their neighbors with the sound of a crowing cock every morning. After receiving complaints, police in the northern town of Itzehoe obtained a warrant to enter the house, where they discovered the loudspeakers. "The apparatus switched on between 2 and 4 o'clock in the morning and broadcast a cock crowing at enormous volume. This would last for 20 minutes with occasional pauses," police said.

　　Police confiscated the equipment and charged the vacationers, who are still away, with disturbing the peace. The neighbors report no previous history of antagonism.