(School girls surprised by pigeons / photo by Yonhap)

Recently Korea's Ministry of Environment announced that it would define the city's pigeons as harmful to wildlife and legislate so that it can begin wiping them out it.

However, the ministry has not fully investigated whether pigeon's are in fact harmful to the environment, and it appears to have drawn conclusions as it pleases. Pigeon droppings and feathers are reputed to cause damage to buildings and have prompted complaints from the public, but no detailed investigations have been done into the real extent or significance of the damage done.

KARA has interviewed Professor Moobu Yoon, a prominent ornithologist, said that the ministry's legislation would not be effective without an accurate assessment of the pigeon situation. He pointed out that the extent of damage is exaggerated compared to the case of magpies, which have the same designation and yet receive none of the bad press. He was also of the opinion that there was no scientific evidence for an increase of pigeon populations and that numbers might even have been reduced as a result of the poor city environment.

The interview with Professor Moobu Yoon is here in Korean:

KARA spokesperson, Ms. Sora Seo, added that to officially name a pigeon a harmful animal, without any clear scientific verification, and set about culling it, could damage the health of the ecosystem in which animals and humans currently live in Seoul. She said that the media's exaggerations of the pigeon problem are not helping people to maintain an objective outlook on the issue.

KARA has taken several actions to try to bring about a better resolution to the problem than all out culling.

1. It has requested the Ministry of Environment to initiate an examination to find more reasonable ways to manage the pigeons by consulting with bird experts and citizens. The Korean version of the statement is here.

2. It started an online petition to protest against the legislation and to promote the pigeons' cause among the public. It is in Korean and can be found here.

More about the pigeon issue in the press can be found under our In The News menu.