Animal groups have filed a constitutional complaint challenging revisions to the Wildlife Protection and Management Act that allow local governments to pass ordinances against feeding pigeons, saying this amounts to animal abuse and suggesting contraceptive bait as an alternative.

Animal rights groups including Care, the Korea Association for Animal Protection, and a civic group that advocates for pigeons held a press conference Monday afternoon in front of the Constitutional Court of Korea in Jongno District, central Seoul, and said the law is unconstitutional.

They argued that the act and related local ordinances embrace a policy of starving pigeons to death, claiming they violate the constitutional rights to life and the pursuit of happiness, as well as the principle of proportionality.

They called for an end to the designation of pigeons as “harmful wild animals” and proposed the introduction of contraceptive bait programs to control pigeon populations.

The groups said contraceptive bait programs have reduced pigeon populations by about 55 percent in Spain and by about 50 percent in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The revised Wildlife Protection and Management Act, which allows local government heads to enact ordinances that ban people from feeding harmful wild animals, took effect Jan. 24.

In line with the revised law, the Seoul Metropolitan Government began enforcing an ordinance in January that provides for fines of up to one million won, or about 675 U.S. dollars, for feeding nuisance animals such as pigeons and magpies.