Glue Traps are Cruel
It never ceases to amaze how people treat animals. One particularly cruel example is glue traps. The trapped rodent (and sometimes other creatures like birds, snakes and lizards) suffers from dehydration, exhaustion, exposure, suffocation and starvation prior to death. Attacking insects (including fleas) make the torment even worse. During the struggle to escape, they may pull out their own hair thus exposing bare, raw areas of skin and the glue can injure their eyes. Sometimes glue lodges in their nasal passages and they suffocate to death. They may even resort to biting off their own leg(s) to free themselves. They may also die of exhaustion resulting from prolonged struggling to escape. The rodents also defecate and urinate, because of severe stress and fear, and become covered with their own excrement (exposure to humans being a health concern). The rodent suffers for about three to five days before it dies. And finally, if still alive, they have been known to cry loudly when the boards are collected.
It should be noted that all mammals have similar nervous systems. They are capable of experiencing the same type of pain and suffering. Thus, rodents suffer as much as any other mammal and are capable of being traumatized and abused.
In some countries glue trap sales and use are regulated. In Ireland for example it is illegal to import, possess, sell or offer for sale glue traps. If other countries can see and act upon the cruelty of glue traps, why can’t we?
There are humane traps. The old fashion spring loaded traps and the electric shock traps are effective killers with the death being immediate. The carcass can be easily removed and the trap re-used. There are also capture devices allowing transportation and release to another location. An article from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) reads: "Glue boards (also known as glue traps) might seem like a safe solution to ridding your home of uninvited guests of the crawling, flying or scurrying sort but they are the cruelest." Please read additional information on the HSUS web site (search ‘glue boards’). http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/facts/glue_boards.html
Please do what you can to help these poor creatures. Here are some ways you can help prevent the spread and use of glue traps: 1) If your local hardware, home improvement, or grocery store sells glue boards inform the store manager or owner, via mail, phone or in person, that these devices are inhumane and explain why. 2) If you find glue boards advertised on a website, email the website manager and address humane concerns. 3) If your property manager/condo association has contracted for rodent control, ask what methods the contractor will use and discourage glue trap use. 4) Send letters-to-the-editor and articles to newspapers and web sites proscribing the use of these traps. 5) Spread the word by any means possible (feel free to use this article).
It is sad that an overpowering desire for convenience in our society could create such a thing as a glue trap. And it is doubly sad that someone, knowledgeable of the suffering this device causes, would still manufacture, sell or use such a thing.
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way in which its animals are treated." -Mohandas Gandhi
