SPCA Urges Public Not to Use Glue Traps for Rats as Cats Are Often Being Trapped Instead

In a recent Facebook post made by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), it warns residents against using glue traps in attempt to catch mice or rodents.

Rather than the intended targets, Community Animal Clinics associated with the SPCA have been reporting that other smaller animals like cats and dogs have been caught in these traps instead.

It has become so common that they clinics can receive up to three to four cases per week.

The Harms of Using Glue Trap

One of the reasons why SPCA has advocated against the use of glue traps is because it causes harm and extreme suffering to the unintended victim.

The SPCA writes, “When an animal gets caught in these traps, their struggle to escape causes chunk of fur to be ripped from their skin. If the glue is excessive – it is impossible for an animal to escape, and they mat very likely lose their lives.”

Even if the animal is rescued and brought to the animal clinic, the removal of the glue is oftentimes painstaking, and the animal might not even survive the process due to the trauma.

At the end, the SPCA states that there are more humane methods for pest-trapping, such as maze-type traps or electric stunners.

However, it should be made clear that no traps are completely humane and pain-free; they’re just better alternatives to glue traps.

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Are Glue Traps Even Effective?

Perhaps another question to ask is: are glue traps actually effective against rats, rodents, and mice?

Since mice and rats are often used in science experiments, it should be quite telling that they’re more intelligent than you think they might be.

For one, large rodents can learn to avoid traps altogether by jumping over the traps. In the event where their hind paws get stuck in the glue, they can pull the trap to their hidey holes and pull it off, or in a few cases, they’re vicious enough to bite off their own hind paws just to escape.

Additionally, the problem with glue traps is that it poses an indirect risk to humans as well. When the intended victim is trapped, they might urinate out of fear, which may contain germs and increase exposure to other diseases.

The pests are also really smart; with their keen senses, they can smell death of its kind on the traps and avoid it.

Glue traps aren’t effective in places with a lot of dust, dirt, or water either—which also tends to be the type of conditions where these pests lurk—because the adhesiveness of the traps becomes less effective over time.

The last point, and the main reason why glue traps are generally not advised, is because it is quite inhumane to the rats themselves, since it takes up to three to 24 hours for them to die, either by suffocation in the glue, stress, dehydration, or starvation.

If you’re going for pest control, at least ensure that the victims get a quick death.

Should live glue board traps ever be employed, they need to be checked hourly.

However, as the SPCA recommends, it’s always better to avoid using this inhumane method. It should be banned altogether, honestly.

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Featured Images: Facebook (SPCA Singapore)