Dollar Tree will stop selling 'glue traps,' according to PETA

I just wrote to PETA regarding the plastic Tomcat mouse/rat trap. I have used them 3 to 4 times and each time the "claws" catch the animal at about eye level causing them to writhe, screech, drag the trap bleeding profusely and in obvious pain before it kills them. I realized that the reason this is happening is that the bait receptacle is not placed far back enough in the trap to catch them at the neck. I hate having to kill anything as I respect life in any form but if I can't get a mouse or rat out of my house and am forced to do so I feel strongly that it should be a quick, humane death. The trap is supposed to be re-usable but due to the horrible, disturbing mess I just disposed of the trap. I am hoping PETA can speak with their company and encourage them to revise these devices. As far as glue traps, I was considering using them when they invented a type of anesthesia on the pad that was supposed to anesthetize the animal to sleep. The anesthetic chemical was worthless. So I do think glue traps are inhumane. I wish they would design a small box that has a spring door and some kind of quick spray of sleeping gas.

Hey Shahinah, you said that you're all for treating animals humanely but you are actively encouraging the use of arguably the most inhumane animal trap in existence at the moment. Not only that, but you went so far as to criticise Dollar Tree for taking them off their shelves. This is not what someone with a humane mindset would do. This company should be applauded to take what is, simply put, a barbaric trap off shelves. There is no shame in stopping an inhumane practice. Do you honestly think these stores would take these traps off shelves if there was no merit to all of this?

Protecting children and pets is not really an excuse for needless cruelty. You can do this as well as kill the animal humanely, they aren't mutually exclusive. The whole point here is to kill the animal quickly if you must kill it, not to torture it to death. And Shahinah, they are still animals regardless of your views about them. No animal really deserves to die via a glue trap. Why do you think these devices are already illegal in some counties, and the respectable animal welfare organisations are protesting their use? And spring traps are FAR more humane because in most cases they result in a quick death. All this brutality is unnecessary when you have the means to do it quick.

Let's suppose for a minute that we wish to be civilized and caring in the way we deal with rodent infestation. Mice struggle, suffer, and starve in glue traps. A standard trap that is supposed to snap the neck doesn't always work quickly and humanely. I found a trap that snapped and the mouse had been caught by the nose. It was dead, but I'm sure it had suffered great pain (and embarrassment). Poison is an awful way to go; internal bleeding can't be pleasant, but protecting children and pets outweighs the feelings of vermin. You certainly can't run around the house, shooting them between the eyes! I'd like to know how PETA would dispose of them if you did drop them off there.

Does PETA have nothing better to do? Are the animal shelters all empty and the poultry farms all cozy now? Look, I'm all for treating animals humanely. But once they enter my home uninvited, eat my food, and lay potentially disease-carrying droppings everywhere, they cease becoming "animals" and become "vermin", and if I find them I WILL kill them. I'm not about to waste time and effort finding somewhere to release these things (although PETA headquarters does come to mind) - it's not like mice are on the endangered list. Besides, does PETA think poisons and spring traps are any more "humane"? They're certainly not safer for the humans who have to live with them, and quite frankly, if I'm paying for the living space then my safety and comfort trump those of uninvited "guests". What's next, a ban on fly strips and Roach Motels? PETA has become a bunch of crackpots...shame on Dollar Tree and all those other chains who gave in to their hysterical yowling.

The "Left" is already behind. Rodents have been known to die slowly on ALL trapping methods. Poisons also work slowly as they bleed internally. I believe the only way to go, as far as the wackos are concerned, is to let all vermin run rampant, until disease and fires, caused by these pests, take their toll on human life!

Good on the store for getting rid of glue traps. They are a horrific way of killing animals and should be banned. There are more humane alternatives - USE them. Don't torture the animals just because you find glue traps a *little* more convenient than one which kills quickly, just kill the poor thing and get it over with. No need to make them suffer.

And as for something more irresponsible - how about leaving these animals on these traps for long periods? Letting them go is no guarantee that they'll be in someone else's house, for all we know, a predator will eat it. You'll be back to square one.

Why do people still use these barbaric things? They're unnecessarily cruel, it's better to use a quick method. To the people who use weak excuses to use them - you are all just lazy. If you're so worried about your children touching a snap trap, here's a thought for you: tell them not to touch it. Better yet, SUPERVISE them or put the trap in an inaccessible area (where mice usually walk through anyway). If you think glue traps are safe, you're kidding yourselves. It's superglue, pretty much - would you let a young child play around with superglue? Didn't think so.

I fully support this choice by Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree has shown how a company can be ethically responsible while still making a profit. At least Dollar Tree has some forward thinking people running the show. I did not realize there are so many uneducated, ignorant people still making jokes about animal abuse, how sad. This world is moving forward and those that want to hang onto this elementary school attitude will get left (happily) behind.....

But the rat gas chamber traps are so costly and complex.
Hmmm perhaps stun gun meets rat trap. Could be effective, but smelly.

...for what to use to trap PETA members and then what to do with them when I catch them? Dumpsters sounds like a good idea but I don't want to drive all the way to North Carolina..

I am not speaking on behalf of PETA, though one could easily place a call to their office for answers. My guess, however, would be that if someone drops off unwanted rodents to their office, they would humanely handle the issue. A quick shot vs hours of torture having fur torn and chewing limbs off, seems an easy pick to me. Also, while PETA espouses a vegan diet, they also know many eat meat and therefore work tirelessly to enlighten people about unnecessary cruelty taking place in our slaughterhouses. You can laugh at PETA's antics if you are so inclined, but one shouldn't ignore the changes they have brought about that help in not only protecting animals from senseless torture, but also affords us a cleaner food supply.

"Dave" suggests that we bring "our animals" to PETA to deal with.

First of all, they aren't "ours". My animal is a cat, who by the way happens to torture small animals as often as he can find them.

Anyway, I find this hilarious and I think we should really do it.

For example, a friend of mine who recently trapped over 7500 rats could help PETA out by delivering all of them to PETA.

I'd like to see what they would do.

NOTE: That's not the largest infestation he's ever found.

NYC has an estimated 100 million rats. Maybe PETA could take care of those too.

PETA is one of the most grossly irresponsible and hypocritical organizations on the planet.

Show me something that works as well as a glue trap and kills them instantly, and I'm willing to try it.

But the bottom line is that the pests have to go, and no I'm not going to be an idiot and feed and release them so we can have an even worse problem. It's hard to think of something more irresponsible than that.

Also, the dumpster thing was not an isolated incident. That is just one of many instances of stupid behavior that they happened to get caught doing.

Financing domestic terrorism is probably their worst crime. At least I hope so.

In the rat infested apartment complex (Emerald Point) where I currently reside, when one finds its way into my apartment, I have to lay the glue traps down. With a toddler and a preschooler, the last thing I need is for them snap their fingers with a T-Rex trap or a Rat trap, or get into poison. It has to be how it has to be.

Good grief, it doesn't take a genius to understand glue traps cause unnecessary suffering to animals, does it? You folks who enjoy making snide comments about PETA ought to realize the enormous influence of this organization. Certainly Dollar Tree and other major companies wouldn't make drastic changes to their inventories without the tireless efforts to PETA to awaken people's senses to the horrors of animal cruelty. And Phoenix 82, it's so tiring to hear the endless rant about animals thrown in a dumpster. That was done independently by two workers and is not PETA'S M.O. Give it a rest, will you? I am immensely proud of PETA'S work and glad they are based here in Norfolk. Keep up the good work!

It's either me or the rodents - and since I pay the mortgage, it sure as hell ain't gonna be me!

Dollar General & almost any hardware store will still have them. All Dollar Tree is going to do is lose more revenue in hard economic times. That is the price they will pay by caving into Peta's demands. Any rodent that finds it's way into my house will die unless it avoids detection. I guess cats should also be banned because they ocasionally torture a mouse before they kill it.

When I lived in London, the "loony left" as they were affectionatey called had taken over parts of several boroughs with their "live and let live" philosophy for all living things. Not coincidentally, the schools in these boroughs were overrun with head lice. The parents who were "live and let live" would not treat them, as that would mean removing the poor creatures from their natural habitat . . .
I am not kidding. The Islington Council had to address this issue back in the 1980's. PETA needs to catch up and start lice epidemics here!

old school rat traps are better, just snap that ole neck right here directly.