WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city of West Hollywood unanimously voted on Tuesday, April 18, to ban the use of glue traps making them the first city in the country to do so.
This ordinance has been in progress for about a year and has been led by Councilmember Lauren Meister. “We are a city that’s a city of compassion and a progressive city,” said Meister. “So a progressive and compassionate city has to lead the way. So hopefully we will be a role model for other cities in banning these inhumane glue traps.” Other pest options will be explored.
According to Meister, the city does not have a rodent problem but the traps themselves can be lethal for small animals.
Courtney Penly, a West Hollywood resident and member of PETA spoke during Tuesday’s meeting, “As the staff report highlights, animals that get stuck on glue traps are incapable of freeing themselves.”
This new ordinance is said to take effect next year.
According to animal rights activists, glue traps are heinous because they immobilize mice and rats, leaving them to slowly dehydrate, suffer and die.
The organization Canadians for Animal Protection, believe glue traps are so cruel that they have taken some of Canada’s biggest retailers — Walmart, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Home Depot and Lowes — to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in hopes of banning them from selling the traps.
According to RSPCA, “the use of live traps is a popular choice for many people who prefer to avoid killing rats and mice but want to remove them from their home or property. However, the humaneness of live traps depends on how frequently the traps are checked, the design of the trap, and whether food, water or nesting material are provided to avoid starvation, dehydration or cold stress.
Live traps must be inspected every morning and any trapped animals humanely killed or released into a suitable location. Animals must not be left to die slowly in the trap. Unfortunately, the available evidence suggests that the survival rate of relocated animals is often very low – releasing animals into a new location is therefore unlikely to be a more humane alternative to killing them quickly and painlessly.”
