The horrible truth about glue boards
by Frank
on Saturday, 14 January 2012
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Frank
14 years experience doing pest control in the greater Seattle and Bellevue area.
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I only show this video, so you will understand how inhumane glue boards are. Know before you watch it, it is not an enjoyable thing to see.
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When I started my own pest control company in 2000, I ordered two cases of rat glue boards and two cases of mouse glue boards. I used just a handful of them before deciding it was too inhumane and still have most of those two cases sitting in storage.
Through the years, here's some of what I've experienced:
A lady called me almost in tears, she had place glue boards in her kitchen the night before. In the morning she got up to find a mouse caught, and it was shrieking and struggling on the glue board. The woman did not realize the glue board would not kill the mouse.
I have seen small birds stuck and dead in the glue boards.
Years after the glue boards are installed, they still remain a danger to non-target animals.
Pest control companies use them because they are one of the cheapest rodent tools available. They throw them out in warehouses, attics, crawl spaces, garages, etc. like they were candy. Glue boards are the lazy man's pest control. Rat traps have to be re-baited. Traps will spring from vibrations in the building or being bumped. So traps require a technician to actually go to each trap and service it. At the least, it requires a visual inspection to ensure the bait is still good and the trap is set. But glue boards are a 'toss them back behind things and into corners' and forget them item.
If the glue boards were checked daily and the caught animals put out of their misery, I might feel different about glue boards, but that's exactly why PCO's (Pest Control Operators) use them: they are cheap, don't require maintenance and easy to replace. In fact, when a glue board becomes covered with dust/dirt or in any other way non-usable, most of them will never be collected and disposed of. They just throw more glue boards into those areas. Customers share in some of the blame, they want to spend the least amount possible on pest control, encouraging PCO's to use the cheapest methods possible.
Rat traps can create a situation where a rat our mouse suffers for some time, but usually death is very quick. I'm not sure they die from the trap breaking their neck as much as it suffocates them by compressing their neck/chest so that they cannot breath.
In some severe infestations, and/or critical public health accounts, using any tool available may be appropriate, but in those cases the glue boards should be service daily to prevent the long drawn out suffering. Most of the animals caught in a glue board will suffer for days. It's only a small percent that will die fairly quick.
I almost never allow them to be used. We had a severe infestation in a food serving facility earlier this year. I allowed the technician to install glue boards one time, then reverted back to my intolerance of their cruelty and had them pulled out.
If we're going to kill something, and killing is the only viable thing to do with rats and mice, we should use methods and tools that kill them as quickly as possible.
Help inform people you know, glue boards are not humane. Forbid your pest service provider to use glue boards. Or require them to install glue boards where they can be inspected dairly by you or your staff. Even a rat should not die struggling in glue for days.
{"video":"","width":"400","height":"300"}
When I started my own pest control company in 2000, I ordered two cases of rat glue boards and two cases of mouse glue boards. I used just a handful of them before deciding it was too inhumane and still have most of those two cases sitting in storage.
Through the years, here's some of what I've experienced:
A lady called me almost in tears, she had place glue boards in her kitchen the night before. In the morning she got up to find a mouse caught, and it was shrieking and struggling on the glue board. The woman did not realize the glue board would not kill the mouse.
I have seen small birds stuck and dead in the glue boards.
Years after the glue boards are installed, they still remain a danger to non-target animals.
Pest control companies use them because they are one of the cheapest rodent tools available. They throw them out in warehouses, attics, crawl spaces, garages, etc. like they were candy. Glue boards are the lazy man's pest control. Rat traps have to be re-baited. Traps will spring from vibrations in the building or being bumped. So traps require a technician to actually go to each trap and service it. At the least, it requires a visual inspection to ensure the bait is still good and the trap is set. But glue boards are a 'toss them back behind things and into corners' and forget them item.
If the glue boards were checked daily and the caught animals put out of their misery, I might feel different about glue boards, but that's exactly why PCO's (Pest Control Operators) use them: they are cheap, don't require maintenance and easy to replace. In fact, when a glue board becomes covered with dust/dirt or in any other way non-usable, most of them will never be collected and disposed of. They just throw more glue boards into those areas. Customers share in some of the blame, they want to spend the least amount possible on pest control, encouraging PCO's to use the cheapest methods possible.
Rat traps can create a situation where a rat our mouse suffers for some time, but usually death is very quick. I'm not sure they die from the trap breaking their neck as much as it suffocates them by compressing their neck/chest so that they cannot breath.
In some severe infestations, and/or critical public health accounts, using any tool available may be appropriate, but in those cases the glue boards should be service daily to prevent the long drawn out suffering. Most of the animals caught in a glue board will suffer for days. It's only a small percent that will die fairly quick.
I almost never allow them to be used. We had a severe infestation in a food serving facility earlier this year. I allowed the technician to install glue boards one time, then reverted back to my intolerance of their cruelty and had them pulled out.
If we're going to kill something, and killing is the only viable thing to do with rats and mice, we should use methods and tools that kill them as quickly as possible.
Help inform people you know, glue boards are not humane. Forbid your pest service provider to use glue boards. Or require them to install glue boards where they can be inspected dairly by you or your staff. Even a rat should not die struggling in glue for days.
