San Francisco could have a ban on glue traps. Opponents say they are cruel and harm wildlife

San Francisco Chronicle​

21-04-2025

Last weekend, a mother and her teenage children came into a wildlife center in San Francisco, distraught. An exterminator had suggested they use glue traps to deal with a rodent problem, but they weren't prepared for what they would find: three tiny baby rats attached to the glue, struggling, screaming and very much alive.
'I will never do that again,' the woman told Irina Ozernoy, a volunteer at Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue, where the baby rats are now recovering.
Ozernoy said it's common for people to show up at the center with rats or mice stuck in glue traps: Despite intending to catch the creatures, they didn't realize how much suffering was involved.
'They're absolutely egregious,' Ozernoy said of the traps. 'It's animal cruelty at its height.'
San Francisco Animal Care and Welfare Commission, of which Ozernoy is a member, is now working on a proposal for a citywide ban on the traps, preferably for both sales and use, though the latter would be hard to monitor.
Glue traps are inexpensive and can be useful. However, the commission opposes them because they don't immediately kill their intended target, instead subjecting them to a protracted death by starvation or thirst, and they often capture other wild animals unintentionally. Instead, the commissioners argue, preventative measures to keep rodents at bay are more effective and humane.
'Anything that gets caught on a glue trap suffers for days before it dies,' said Lila Talcott, founder of Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue. 'Many species will fight tooth and nail to get off the trap. Birds will pull out their own feathers and then be unable to fly. Lizards will lose limbs.'
WildCare, a wildlife hospital in San Rafael, has treated 43 glue trap patients from San Francisco since 2017, including wild birds like California towhees and dark-eyed juncos along with pigeons and roof rats, said Alison Hermance, director of communications and marketing. In that same time period, it treated 155 additional animals found in glue traps elsewhere in the Bay Area — among them gopher snakes, skinks and scrub jays.
Removing animals from the traps is a painstaking process involving mineral oil and Q-Tips, and often sedation, that shouldn't be tried at home, said Talcott.
Ozernoy thinks it would be fitting for San Francisco to impose a ban, since the city is named after the patron saint of animals. West Hollywood banned glue trap sales in 2023, followed by Ojai (Ventura County). New Zealand and several European countries outlaw or restrict the use of glue traps.
Last year, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County), introduced legislation for a national ban on the sale and use of glue traps. When it did not advance, the San Francisco Animal Care and Welfare Commission revisited the idea of a citywide ban, and members plan to present the proposal to the Board of Supervisors soon, Ozernoy said.
The traps have brand names like Catchmaster, Stick-Em and Tomcat, often with images of live, curious rats or mice on the label. Some brands have instructions to throw the trap in the trash when the animals are caught, without mentioning that they might still be alive. If you don't plan to rescue them, experts say using a heavy object to kill the glue-stuck animals with blunt force trauma is most effective.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discourages the use of glue traps, because rodents caught in them can spread disease through urine or feces. Even some animal rights activists prefer snap traps, because of their swift effectiveness. And pest management experts say that lethal traps don't ultimately solve rodent infestations unless people plug holes in buildings to prevent more rodents from entering, and keep food and trash out of reach.
Luis Agurto Jr, CEO of Pestec, an integrated pest management company for San Francisco and several other Bay Area counties, said there's already an 'unwritten rule' not to use glue traps on city-owned properties.
'People don't want to come across it. It's very emotionally charged if you hear something suffering and squeaking,' especially in schools, Agurto said.
San Francisco has had an integrated pest management strategy for almost three decades, meaning it focuses on minimizing the use of pesticides that can be harmful to the environment and people, said Alice Hur, senior policy and public affairs coordinator for the San Francisco Environment Department.
The policy does not address the use of glue traps, but the city provides guidance on how to prevent pests from entering buildings, including during design and construction, Hur said.
Agurto said that using durable building materials and sealing holes down to ¼ inch, especially around pipes, are important steps.
He also pointed to new tools the state and city are working with, such as smart traps with sensors that can provide data on the location and size of rodent populations. His company recently received a state grant to demonstrate alternatives to rodenticides, including using rat contraceptives in two San Francisco neighborhoods.
Agurto opposes a ban on glue traps because he said it would remove an inexpensive tool for those without control over more fundamental pest management strategies, such as residents of high-density housing.
Bans can have unintended consequences. A recent state ban on a certain class of rodenticides in California called anticoagulants, for example, caused manufacturers to come up with new versions that do not have ready antidotes for wildlife that accidentally ingest the poisons or the rodents that eat them, Talcott said.
Nonetheless, at the University of San Francisco, students are trying to convince staffers to stop using the traps, said Bella Niven, a USF law student specializing in animal law.
'Any student could stumble upon a glue trap with a mouse that is struggling in it on the way to class,' said Niven, who also supports a citywide ban.
Niven said that people think of mice and rats as inferior but she pointed out they like to be tickled and can learn their own names.
'When they come into our human-built space,' she said, 'they're often seeking the warmth and safety that we do during the cold months.'
Niven and other students met with university officials to express their concerns, and both the students and the university put up signs reminding people of best practices, such as not to leave out crumbs, said Kellie Samson, media relations specialist at the university, in an email.
Samson pointed to the university's integrated pest management policy and said the university would follow the law if a ban were in place.
But, she said, 'At this time, the university and its third-party pest control partner have not identified effective alternatives to glue or snap traps.'