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News & ArtsTuesday, March 3, 2009
Mailbag Today from PETA: A Better Mousetrap?
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 1:11 PM
The press release of the day, from PETA, involves Chase Bank switching from glue traps to an unspecified method of dispensing with mice:
WAMU'S RESCUER ALSO SAVES ANIMALS BY BANNING GLUE TRAPS IN RESPONSE TO PETA'S APPEAL
JP Morgan Addresses Consumer Concerns About Suffering of Trapped Rodents and Birds
Seattle, Wash. — In a move that will spare countless mice and other small animals painful, lingering deaths, Seattle-based Washington Mutual, which was recently acquired by banking giant JP Morgan Chase, has announced that it will stop using cruel glue traps as part of a recently announced plan to stop the use of the traps at all Chase Bank locations. Glue traps are pieces of cardboard or plastic coated with an adhesive that's designed to ensnare any small animal who wanders across the surface.
After customers complained about the use of glue traps in a Chicago-area Washington Mutual bank, PETA contacted JP Morgan Chase. Company Vice President Ann Stankiewicz responded, saying that the company "will no longer use glue traps in our facilities for mice control."
The remainder of the press release is after the break, should you care to learn more about glue traps. Hint: possible chewing off of own legs.
Legs aside, PETA's headline is specious: Is the bank really going to "save" the mice now? Or will it use some other method of "mice control," like a spring trap that'll snap their little spines instead? Would a less painful, less lingering death for the mice make PETA happy, or does PETA envision a world where mice can live inside financial institutions at will as tiny fur freeloaders?
And since when are banks infested with mice? Seattle's bank branches don't seem to be littered with glue traps. Is this a Chicago thing?
PETA's "rescue" comparison vis-a-vis WAMU is also specious: WAMU pretty much chewed off its own leg, then was subsumed. Can it not be left to rest in peace?
Photo by evil robot 6 from The Stranger's flickr pool.
Animals caught in glue traps suffer immeasurably during the days that it takes for them to die of dehydration. Patches of skin, fur, and feathers are often torn off animals' bodies as they try to escape, and some animals will even chew off their own legs while struggling to break free.
Besides being cruel, glue traps are ineffective. When these animals die, more move in to occupy the space. The only way to control small mammal and bird populations in the long term is to modify habitats so that they're unattractive or inaccessible to animals.
"In saving WaMu, JP Morgan Chase has also saved birds and rodents, who feel pain just as much as dogs and cats do," says PETA Assistant Director of Corporate Affairs Matt Prescott. "To small animals and kind consumers, the decision to stop using cruel glue traps at Chase banks is worth a fortune."
For more information, please visit PETA's blog or PETA.org.
1
Mousetraps of any sort are an outrage! In the wild, mice die peacefully in their sleep, lying on big soft featherbeds, surrounded by friends and loved ones.
It's nature's way.
It's nature's way.
2
Think appears to be a carefully crafted attempt by Bethany to draw fire away from ECB. I predict 100 comments for this thread, at least four of them coherent.
6
Glue traps don't work for shit. Those spring traps work just fine... I don't know if the mice feel any pain, but they definitely die fast and brutally.
PETA's not going to start calling mice "rodent-kittens" are they?
PETA's not going to start calling mice "rodent-kittens" are they?
7
Do you really have questions about how we should treat animals? It seems pretty simple to me and I can't tell if your bewilderment is real. Just don't be any more cruel to animals than you have to be.
Glue traps that torture mice = bad
Kill traps that kill mice immediately = bad but much better
Human mousetraps (like this) = fine
Like, do you understand why pet owners shouldn't kick dogs in the face or blow up cats with firecrackers? I mean, besides "it's against the law"? I'm really starting to wonder.
Glue traps that torture mice = bad
Kill traps that kill mice immediately = bad but much better
Human mousetraps (like this) = fine
Like, do you understand why pet owners shouldn't kick dogs in the face or blow up cats with firecrackers? I mean, besides "it's against the law"? I'm really starting to wonder.
9
Ingenious WAMU/Chase mice elimination strategy: the best way to eliminate mice at WAMU is ....
Declare them as assets!
Declare them as assets!
12
@3, cats indeed. That way the mice can be killed slowly, torn limb from limb and then partially eaten, just like nature intended.
But @9, you win. I'm sure the taxpayers won't mind picking up the tab for a few million distressed mice.
But @9, you win. I'm sure the taxpayers won't mind picking up the tab for a few million distressed mice.
14
BJC you are a fucking whore if you think you are going to tackle the glue trap issue. PETA is right on the money on this one, even if they are over the top on everything else. just about any other way of killing mice is better than a glue trap.
now go die.
now go die.
15
Humane mousetraps only work if you're willing to drive the mice 15 miles out into the countryside with little blindfolds on. If you just let them back outside, they'll come right back in (your house or someone else's).
Mice spread disease. I am perfectly happy with them outside (or hell, even in my garage). Once they are in my house, I feel perfectly OK about disposing of them by any means necessary. The kind of snap-trap that the whole mouse goes in to and kills instantly is best, but the glue traps work much better than the cheapo snap traps.
Mice spread disease. I am perfectly happy with them outside (or hell, even in my garage). Once they are in my house, I feel perfectly OK about disposing of them by any means necessary. The kind of snap-trap that the whole mouse goes in to and kills instantly is best, but the glue traps work much better than the cheapo snap traps.
18
I've been in situations where mice were a problem. I've laid down a minefield of snap traps with very poor result. Glue traps work magnificently. Mice can be very wary around snap traps. And they practically have to jump up and down on some of them to get them to go off. Put a glue trap along a mouse's normal path and you've got it - sometimes even more than one per trap. Yes, it's a bad way to go, but you can end it's suffering by drowning it or such. It sucks, I know, but it has proven to be the most effective method to get rid of mice that I know. I recommend them to anyone with a mouse problem.
21
@#3 I don't know about all PETA members, but I did hear one clown on a radio talk show who would object to using cats to control mice. This guy advocated that humans should be "moral interveners" and prevent predator animals from catching their prey.
25
@ 18
yeah, drowning it slowly is much better (and definitely faster) than catching it and drivinng ten minutes away to a park or bramble patch.
Sure.
yeah, drowning it slowly is much better (and definitely faster) than catching it and drivinng ten minutes away to a park or bramble patch.
Sure.
26
If we force feed the mice cheese, think of how delicious their livers would be.
Overpopulation of Mice?
Problem solved!
Overpopulation of Mice?
Problem solved!
27
Bramble patch? I'm sorry, did you just say "bramble patch"?
The folks who live out in the country don't want your goddamn mice, either, and they won't have any problem at all snapping, sticking, stamping, or feeding to their cats any mice you bring to them. More than a few of them will be wondering just how much glue it would take to trap a goddamn PETA moron.
The folks who live out in the country don't want your goddamn mice, either, and they won't have any problem at all snapping, sticking, stamping, or feeding to their cats any mice you bring to them. More than a few of them will be wondering just how much glue it would take to trap a goddamn PETA moron.
28
What? Don't you know that if you drive "ten minutes away to a park or bramble patch" (which is what... an hour and a half walk if you don't have a car?) and free a mouse, it'll live out its natural life in a quaint hollowed-out log, with a toadstool dining room set, sleeping all snugly in its little matchbook bed?
And you want to kill that innocent creature that god put on this earth. I spit on you.
And you want to kill that innocent creature that god put on this earth. I spit on you.
29
Toss 'em in a blender like the guy in Never Cry Wolf did. Good eats. (The mice, that is, not the PETA morons. Although that's tempting.)
30
SEA KITTENS!!! They serve grilled SEA KITTENS and SEA KITTEN STICKS in their employee dining rooms!!!
31
Nora:
"I feel perfectly OK about disposing of them by any means necessary"
How about burning them alive? Or pouring boiling water over them?
See, this is what I mean about "any means necessary". Lines have to be drawn... killing shouldn't involve torture as it is wrong, end of.
"I feel perfectly OK about disposing of them by any means necessary"
How about burning them alive? Or pouring boiling water over them?
See, this is what I mean about "any means necessary". Lines have to be drawn... killing shouldn't involve torture as it is wrong, end of.
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