Better alternatives for rodents than glue traps
Glue traps, also known as sticky traps or glue boards, are cruel and inhumane. Animals stuck on glue often take days to die, suffering in agony.
As they struggle in panic to free themselves, trapped animals could tear their own limbs and skin. Those that can’t escape die slowly from dehydration and starvation. Sometimes animals’ heads become stuck to the adhesive, and they die because they can’t breathe.
Glue traps are unhygienic, putting human health at risk. In trying to escape, the animal defecates, urinates and bleeds, spreading germs and viruses. For these reasons, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advises against glue traps. Beyond that, glue traps don’t work in the long run. When a small number of animals, usually mice, are killed, the food supply is more available for the remaining (and reproducing) number. The use of glue traps causes a never-ending treadmill of lethality and failure.
Anne Arundel County contracts with pest control companies, that place glue traps in county buildings — schools, senior centers, libraries, community centers — with the intention of controlling mice and other animals. This cruel practice must stop. There are more humane, more effective, and more cost-efficient ways to manage rodents.
Because glue traps are inhumane, ineffective and potentially hazardous to humans and the environment, they’ve been banned in many places. Glue traps are banned in many countries in Europe, in New Zealand, and in much of Australia.
They’re banned in more than 100 airports across the United States. They’re banned in West Hollywood, the first city in the country to ban glue traps. They’re banned in the New York City Police Department. They’re banned in the District of Columbia.
State and local legislatures in Massachusetts and California have bills in the works to ban glue traps. Congress is taking up the Glue Trap Prohibition Act of 2024, sponsored by Congressman Ted W. Lieu. The bill is endorsed by PETA, the Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Legislative Fund, among other animal welfare and wildlife protection groups.
What can you do? Don’t buy glue traps. Don’t hire pest companies that use them. Object when they are used in your facility. Write to city and county leaders expressing your support for a ban on these cruel and inhumane devices. Research other methods to control mice.
Mice and other small animals deserve our compassion and respect. They suffer, just as we do. For our own humanity, we must try to be humane. I don’t believe people want to be cruel. Glue traps may seem to be cheap and easy to use, but once we’re aware of how they work, we can’t in good conscience and in any rational sense help but be repulsed and want to find a better way.
— Cynthia Barry, Annapolis