Photo by Francisco Martins / Getty Images
Municipalities voted last week (September 20, 2024) to call on British Columbia to ban rodent glue traps province wide at the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention.
The resolution – NR53: Ban on Rodent Glue Traps – was introduced by Councillor Teale Phelps-Bondaroff from Saanich and Councillor John Rogers from View Royal. NR53 asks the province to implement a province-wide ban on the sale, purchase, and use of glue traps. Notably, the resolution calls out rodent glue traps as “an ineffective method for controlling rodents” that cause “fear, pain and distress for captured animals, including rodents and non-target animals like birds, bats, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and household pets.”
Put forward by Saanich and View Royal. Page 170 of the Resolution book. Conference delegates, please be sure to visit the BC SPCA’s booth for their glue trap display and to learn more about the negative impacts on wildlife, pets and rodent welfare.
Whereas glue traps are an ineffective method for controlling rodents as they fail to address the root causes of an infestation, including access to food and shelter, and they cause fear, pain and distress for captured animals, including rodents and non-target animals like birds, bats, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and household pets;
And whereas most users are not capable of humanely killing trapped animals, leaving them to suffer for hours, and even days, before dying of suffocation, dehydration, starvation, exhaustion, or exposure:
Therefore be it resolved that UBCM ask the Province of British Columbia to implement a province-wide ban on the sale, purchase, and use of glue traps.
Endorsed by the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities.
UBCM Resolutions Committee Comments:
The Resolutions Committee advises that the UBCM membership has not previously considered a resolution asking the Province to implement a province-wide ban on the sale, purchase, and use of rodent glue traps.
However, the Committee notes that the membership has supported other resolutions addressing rodents, including:
- 2021-NR40 which called on the Province to allow local governments to enact bylaws regulating rodenticide use in the newly created Urban Interface Areas;
- 2020-LR2 (UBCM Executive endorsed) which called on the Province to implement a province-wide ban on the sale, purchase and use of anticoagulant rodenticides, and call for the Minister of Health to initiate a special review of the regulation of anticoagulant rodenticides; and
- 2017-B108 which sought the development and funding of a strategy to reduce and/or control the rat population in BC.
"I am deeply thankful to all the dedicated advocates who helped make this resolution a reality. This is a big step in the right direction. Now we need the provincial government to take action and ban these cruel and indiscriminate glue traps. These traps are inhumane, causing immense and prolonged suffering. The animals caught in glue traps suffer horrific and lingering deaths, and this is a fate experienced by target and non-target animals alike."
The resolution received wide support from non-profits like The Fur-Bearers and the BC SPCA.
“For years, the BC SPCA has advocated against wildlife control methods that cause prolonged suffering and endanger non-target species,” BC SPCA spokesperson Sarah Herring told Richmond News.
The Fur-Bearers will continue to monitor this news and provide updates on the province’s response as they are available. Please note, the endorsement of the UBCM resolution does not mean the ban will go through, but compels the province to respond. We’d like to thank Councillors Teale Phelps-Bondaroff, John Rogers, the BC SPCA, advocate Lavinia Rojas, and all the compassionate people who supported this resolution.
