MSPs consider case to ban rodent glue traps

A Holyrood committee has said there is a “compelling” case to ban the sale and use of glue traps and boards in Scotland.

MSPs on the parliament’s Public Petitions Committee were told thousands of the “crude, indiscriminate and horrific” traps were likely to be sold each year to catch mice or rats.

Petitioners Lisa Harvey and Andrea Goddard, of campaign group Let’s Get MAD For Wildlife, are urging the Scottish Government to ban the devices, which trap and immobilise animals but do not kill them outright.

Their campaign was sparked in January this year when Ms Harvey found a female blackbird trapped on a glue board which had been left in a pet shop by a pest control company.

The bird was still alive and had torn off its own leg, tail feathers and most of one wing in an attempt to escape.

The petition has already attracted 5,803 signatures as well as the support of the Scottish SPCA and other wildlife charities.

Ms Goddard told the committee: “We believe the current widespread use and misuse of glue boards in Scotland is causing significant and completely unnecessary suffering, both to target and non-target species.

“There is absolutely no logic in allowing the sale of these items to the untrained public for DIY control.”

The committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government on the issue, with convener Johann Lamont adding: “Given the evidence we’ve heard we believe a compelling case has been made for a ban and in terms of effectiveness and also just simply in terms of cruelty it is something we want them to respond to.”