![\"Rats](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-04-22_20-35-29-884-e1745379359539.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n SAN FRANCISCO, \u00a0California\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Coat a branch with quicklime paste to trap a bird by gluing the bird\u2019s feet to the branch,\u00a0 anywhere in the United States, \u00a0and no matter how much nuisance the bird\u2019s poop and squawking are,\u00a0 you may be cited,\u00a0 fined,\u00a0 and perhaps even jailed for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.<\/p>\n Even glue-trapping bird species not covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 is illegal because of the risk of accidentally trapping protected birds,\u00a0 including practically every variety of songbird.<\/p>\n Similar legislation has been in effect in the United Kingdom since 1954,\u00a0 and throughout the European Union since 2021,\u00a0 having already been banned for decades in almost all member states except some in the Mediterranean region.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Anyone who wants to trap a mouse with glue,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 can buy a ready-made glue trap at almost any supermarket or hardware store.<\/p>\n The persistence and widespread acceptance of glue-trapping mice has ripple effects,\u00a0 including as a leading argument of animal experimenters against protecting rats,\u00a0 mice,\u00a0 and birds under the federal Animal Welfare Act:\u00a0 if an ordinary citizen can torture mice to death with impunity,\u00a0 just for being a nuisance,\u00a0 why should a scientist be prohibited from doing something similar in the name of curing disease?<\/p>\n The only jurisdictions in the United States known to prohibit glue traps are the two California cities of West Hollywood and Ojai,\u00a0 since 2023 and 2024,\u00a0 respectively<\/p>\n Now,\u00a0 Tara Duggan on April 21, 2025 reported for the San Francisco Chronicle<\/em>,\u00a0 the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control & Welfare is \u201cworking on a proposal for a citywide ban on glue traps, preferably for both sales and use, \u00a0though the latter would be hard to monitor.\u201d<\/p>\n California Representative Ted Lieu.<\/strong><\/em> In 2024,\u00a0 Duggan remembered,\u00a0 U.S. Congressional Representative Ted W. Lieu, \u00a0a Democrat from Torrance in Los Angeles County, \u00a0\u201cintroduced legislation for a national ban on the sale and use of glue traps.\u201d<\/p>\n (See Glue traps: the La Brea Tar Pits in your closet<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Ted W. Lieu,\u00a0 56,\u00a0 was at the time vice chair of the Democratic Caucus,\u00a0 making him the highest ranking Asian-American in the House of Representatives ever.<\/p>\n Ted Lieu introduced his Glue Trap Prohibition Act on January 17, \u00a02024,\u00a0 with co-sponsor Adam Schiff,\u00a0 a fellow Democrat from the 30th California Congressional District,\u00a0 also in Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n Beth Clifton kisses a Norway rat.<\/strong><\/em> The Lieu bill sought \u201cto place a national ban on the possession and use of glue traps to catch rodents.<\/p>\n \u201cGlue traps \u2013 boards coated with adhesive used to catch and kill pests \u2013 are among the cruelest ways to eliminate rodents,\u201d\u00a0 Ted Lieu said in his media release announcing the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cIn their attempts to escape the glue, \u00a0animals may tear off their skin.\u00a0 Some may even gnaw off their own limbs.\u00a0 Animals who do not escape die of blood loss, \u00a0suffocation, \u00a0or dehydration.<\/p>\n \u201cGlue traps also pose a public health risk,\u201d\u00a0 the Lieu media release continued.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Centers for Disease Control & Prevention urges Americans not to use glue traps, as ensnared rodents can spread disease.\u201d<\/p>\n Glue traps \u201care already banned in Iceland, \u00a0Ireland, \u00a0and New Zealand, \u00a0as well as in over 100 airports across the country,\u201d\u00a0 Lieu added.<\/p>\n But Lieu\u2019s Glue Trap Prohibition Act was promptly referred to the House Agriculture Committee,\u00a0 where it remained to the end of the 118th Congress.\u00a0 It so far has not been reintroduced in the 119th Congress.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The San Francisco Commission of Animal Control took up the glue trap issue,\u00a0 Duggan indicated,\u00a0 at urging of member Irina Ozernoy, \u00a0\u201ca volunteer at Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue,\u201d\u00a0 Duggan wrote,\u00a0 who is now helping three baby rats rescued from a glue trap to recover.<\/p>\n \u201cGlue traps are inexpensive and can be useful. \u00a0However, the commission opposes them,\u201d\u00a0 Duggan wrote, \u201cbecause they don\u2019t immediately kill their intended target, instead subjecting them to a protracted death by starvation or thirst, \u00a0and they often capture other wild animals unintentionally.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, \u00a0the commissioners argue,\u201d\u00a0 and practically every urban wildlife expert not employed in the pest control industry long since has agreed,\u00a0 \u201cpreventative measures to keep rodents at bay are more effective and humane.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Explained Lila Talcott, founder of Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue,\u00a0 to Duggan,\u00a0 \u201cAnything that gets caught on a glue trap suffers for days before it dies.\u00a0 Many species will fight tooth and nail to get off the trap. \u00a0Birds will pull out their own feathers and then be unable to fly. \u00a0Lizards will lose limbs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWildCare, \u00a0a wildlife hospital in San Rafael,\u201d\u00a0 Duggan continued, \u00a0has treated 43 glue trap patients from San Francisco since 2017,\u201d\u00a0 even though San Francisco residents had to pay the Golden Gate Bridge toll going both ways to get there and back.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that same time period, \u00a0WildCare treated 155 additional animals found in glue traps elsewhere in the Bay Area \u2014 among them gopher snakes, \u00a0skinks and scrub jays,\u201d\u00a0 Duggan listed.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Pestec integrated pest management company chief executive Luis Agurto Jr. told Duggan that there is already an \u201cunwritten rule not to use glue traps on city-owned properties,\u00a0 because \u2018People don\u2019t want to come across it. \u00a0It\u2019s very emotionally charged if you hear something suffering and squeaking,\u2019 \u00a0especially in schools,\u201d\u00a0 Duggan summarized.<\/p>\n While trapping birds with quicklime paste was relatively easily banned in most U.S. states within the early years of the U.S. humane movement,\u00a0 banning glue traps has proved to be a much harder sell.<\/p>\n The Humane Society of the U.S. [HSUS], \u00a0now renamed Humane World for Animals, \u00a0\u00a0tried to educate consumers about glue traps and alternatives to using them with a 1985-1990 campaign directed at getting chain stores to stop selling glue traps.<\/p>\n After HSUS apparently gave up, \u00a0People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] took up the cause in 1994, \u00a0bringing the Humane Society of the U.S. back into the effort in 1997.<\/p>\nMore than a century after glue-trapping birds became illegal,\u00a0 glue-trapping mice persists<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nRipple effects<\/h2>\n
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(Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nU.S. Rep. Ted Lieu sought national glue trap ban<\/h2>\n
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(Merritt Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cAmong the cruelest ways to eliminate rodents\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThree baby rats<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNon-target species<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cVery emotionally charged\u201d<\/h2>\n