report on the use of rodent glue traps in Scotland



Broadly speaking, the issues raised in evidence received by the Commission fell into the following categories: (i) reasons for using glue traps; (ii) animal welfare impacts of glue traps on captured animals, including methods of dispatch; (iii) non-target captures; (iv) alternative rodent control methods; (v) ethical considerations; and (vi) legislation in other countries.To get more news about Mouse Glue Trap, you can visit senpinghz.com official website.

Reasons for using glue traps
Most respondents acknowledged that measures were necessary to control or eradicate rodent incursions, particularly to food preparation or medical facilities. The British Pest Control Association (BPCA) raised public health concerns:
"Rodents carry and transmit pathogenic microorganisms (and therefore disease). Failure to act quickly in a high-risk environment can result in sickness, distress and death."

The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS), while recognising the need for control of the use of glue boards in pest control, believed that there were "cases of last resort, where other control measures have failed and there is no alternative to the use of glue boards."

Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) commented:

"It is difficult to know where they are 'essential', however it is worth considering that rather than being a specific location it might be argued that these traps may be necessary at any location where rats need to be removed quickly and where preferred alternatives are failing to work or are inappropriate.

The kinds of places where rodents would need to be removed quickly might be hospitals and other health care facilities, food manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing and food preparation, where there are potentially serious consequences from contamination. It might also be imperative to quickly remove them from anywhere with critical infrastructure involving wiring and electrics where there is either a danger of gnawing damage or of equipment shorting and, in extremis, fire (perhaps a data centre or a power station control room?)"All stakeholders acknowledged, however, that glue traps cause animals to suffer. Some believed this was unavoidable due to the urgent necessity of controlling rodents in certain situations. Others maintained that glue traps could not be justified under any circumstances and that alternative methods were always to be preferred.

There are public health concerns in certain high-risk situations that clearly require effective and rapid pest control in order to reduce the spread of disease. However, the Commission is not convinced that evidence exists supporting the view that glue traps are genuinely the only method of last resort.

Animal welfare issues
For the pest control industry, the BPCA acknowledged that glue traps could cause animal suffering and believed they should only be used as a last resort by commercial operators such as BPCA members, in accordance with the Pest Management Alliance (PMA) Code of Best Practice for the Humane Use of Glue Traps (PMA, 2017a).