Mumbai: One of the largest pharmacy and lifestyle retail chain in India, Wellness Forever, stopped selling glue traps, that ensnares small animals, at more than 400 stores across the country following an appeal from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India). The move comes after 32 states and union territories across India prohibited the manufacture, use, and sale of glue traps in response to PETA India’s efforts.
PETA India has been advocating against the usage of glue traps, trays coated with a sticky adhesive that ensnares small animals, as it claims that the animals can suffer for days before dying. E-commerce giants like Amazon India, Meesho, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and JioMart have removed listings for glue traps after being contacted by PETA India and similarly, Rajmandir Hypermarket stopped selling glue traps at its stores across the national capital.
According to the organisation, wildlife including birds, snakes, lizards, mice, rats, squirrels and other small animals like kittens, who get stuck in the glue struggle desperately to escape. Some animals chew off their own limbs in their desperate attempts. Animal stuck on the boards ultimately succumb to shock, dehydration, asphyxiation, or blood loss.
It claims that these animals continue to produce urine and faeces, through which pathogens including hantavirus, salmonella, and the bacteria that cause leptospirosis are transmitted, posing a major health hazard. PETA India claimed that glue traps are also largely ineffective because they neglect to address the source of the problem that as long as food remains accessible, more animals will move in to take the place of those who have been killed.
PETA India advised that the only long-term way to control rodent populations is to make the area unattractive or inaccessible to them by eliminating their food sources, seal rubbish containers, and reducing hiding places. It suggested that ammonia-soaked cotton balls or rags drive rodents out as they hate the smell. Once out, entry points can be sealed using foam sealant, steel wool, hardware cloth, or metal flashing. Where rodents need to be removed from homes, this can be done with humane cage traps which must be checked daily and the animals released safely a distance away from the home.
Umang Sharma, corporate affairs liaison at PETA India, said, “Animals caught in glue traps face a hideously slow and agonising death as they struggle, panic, and rip their own skin off in a desperate attempt to escape. PETA India commends Wellness Forever for protecting wildlife and other small animals from these vile devices and calls on all other retailers to follow suit.”
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