We won’t regurgitate the article—good educational info for all. Wildlife Rehabbers get most of their animals in due to human-caused injury and the use of poisons, glue traps, “bird repellant gels,” etc. are high on the list. Even poisons used inside buildings (houses, basements, garages) are not safe: the mouse you intend to catch is very likely to leave the way it got in and die outside where it becomes an easy “treat” for non-target wildlife and pets. We see songbirds, raptors, snakes and mammals, all unintended target animals caught in glue traps or covered in Bird Repellent Gels every year. Glue traps even when they catch the target animal are just a slow suffering death of starvation and exposure and WRCNU often receives traps with both the target animal (usually a mouse, rat or crickets/spiders) and non-target animals (Kestrels, Owls, & insect eating songbirds) looking for an easy meal stuck side-by-side. It’s not an easy task to remove these animals and just set them free. It often times takes months of rehabilitation waiting for feathers to grow back or fur to shed to remove some of these non-water soluble adhesives without harming the animals. Bird gel repellants and glue traps used inside or out are extremely inhuman and never target only the animal you seek. Mouse snap traps used outside do not target only mice and you run the danger of catching animals you did not plan on catching. Do your part and seal your homes/buildings to prevent animals from accessing them, so you never have to use such “traps/repellents”. If you desire to rid your yards of rodents, then bring raptors into your yard with appropriate nest boxes for Kestrels and owls—let Nature take care of Nature and leave the poisons and traps out of this equation … for the safety of all.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 18:15:00 +0000