What to Do if You See Someone Selling or Using Glue Traps

 

Glue traps are one of the cruellest methods of rodent control. Animals caught in these devices can suffer for days as they frantically try to escape, often tearing off their own skin in the process.

If you find an animal stuck in a glue trap, please see our guide on how to help them.

Glue traps – also known as glue boards or sticky boards – are usually made of plastic trays or sheets of cardboard covered with extremely strong glue. Mice, rats, and other animals who walk onto the glue instantly become stuck and are powerless to free themselves.

Animals caught in these traps can die of hunger, dehydration, or exposure after days of prolonged suffering. Others may suffocate when their noses and mouths become stuck in the glue, while some even chew through their own limbs in a desperate bid for freedom and end up dying of blood loss. Those who are found alive may be thrown into the bin along with the trap or face an even more barbaric death, such as by bludgeoning or drowning.

Glue traps are indiscriminate killers and may also catch “non-target” animals, including birds, hedgehogs, squirrels, frogs, and even cats.

For example, a tawny owl was caught in a glue trap in Bristol and almost certainly would have died if he hadn’t been rescued by the RSPCA.

Using glue traps to catch mice and rats is, shockingly, still legal in the UK, despite the devices’ inherent cruelty. Most animals caught in traps are protected under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which makes it an offence to inflict “unnecessary suffering” on them – opening anyone using them up to potential charges for breaches of animal protection legislation.

What to do if you see someone selling or using glue traps

Many wholesalers and high-street retailers already refuse to stock glue traps. However, they’re still available from some outlets. If you discover that your local supermarket or hardware shop is selling them or that a business or property manager is using them, please speak up. You can inform the people involved about the extreme suffering these traps cause and urge them to stop selling them or to replace them with a less inhumane method of rodent control.

Feel free to use our sample letter below, changing any details as necessary. Let us know if you receive a positive response by e-mailing [email protected].

Dear [Sir/ Madam],

I’m contacting you as I was shocked to learn that [company/organisation name] is [selling/using] glue traps.

Glue traps are one of the cruellest methods of rodent control. Animals caught in these devices can suffer for days as they frantically try to escape, often tearing off their own skin in the process.

These helpless animals can die of hunger, dehydration, or exposure after days of prolonged suffering. Others may suffocate when their noses and mouths become stuck in the glue, while some even chew through their own limbs in a desperate bid for freedom and end up dying of blood loss.

To make matters worse, glue traps are indiscriminate killers and may also catch “non-target” animals, including birds, squirrels, frogs, and even cats.

Countless companies and organisations have already sworn off these barbaric devices. Please join them by making the compassionate decision to stop [selling/using] glue traps now.

Sincerely,

 

 

Learn more

Visit our Wildlife Issues page to learn more about living in harmony with wild animals.

Learn more about wildlife