Apr 8, 2012 – Issues With Glue
QUESTION:
I am a manager of a pest control company and we service a large popular chain of banks throughout southern California. They just sent me a letter telling me "Effective immediately, the use of gluetraps will no longer be permitted for rodent control at all facilities." I also found out that they do not want us using glueboards for insect control. We use a lot of glue boards, odorless insecticide, IPM, and exclusion. A supervisor would like an explanation from an industry expert about using glue boards in banks and is this a green and safe approach?
ANSWER:
This opens a few different doors for us to explore, and you mention that a supervisor wants the opinion of someone on the safety and "green" aspect of glue traps. I don't know if this is a supervisor with your company or with your customer, but I will go with the idea that it is a supervisor of this bank chain. I believe this is an opportunity for you to meet with the folks at this bank who have made this decision and who sent you that letter. You need to determine exactly what has prompted this decision on their part so you can offer an explanation of why you use these traps and why, perhaps, they could continue to be allowed.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I am a manager of a pest control company and we service a large popular chain of banks throughout southern California. They just sent me a letter telling me "Effective immediately, the use of gluetraps will no longer be permitted for rodent control at all facilities." I also found out that they do not want us using glueboards for insect control. We use a lot of glue boards, odorless insecticide, IPM, and exclusion. A supervisor would like an explanation from an industry expert about using glue boards in banks and is this a green and safe approach?
ANSWER:
This opens a few different doors for us to explore, and you mention that a supervisor wants the opinion of someone on the safety and "green" aspect of glue traps. I don't know if this is a supervisor with your company or with your customer, but I will go with the idea that it is a supervisor of this bank chain. I believe this is an opportunity for you to meet with the folks at this bank who have made this decision and who sent you that letter. You need to determine exactly what has prompted this decision on their part so you can offer an explanation of why you use these traps and why, perhaps, they could continue to be allowed.
Let me first say that absolutely yes, glue traps are considered to be a "green" approach to pest management. They can be placed so that they capture only the pest animals that you are monitoring for, and thus they cause no harm to other wildlife and certainly do not pollute the outdoor environment. If placed correctly they are not a hazard of any kind to people or pets and the glue is generally considered to be a "non-toxic" material. However, I suspect that this is not the issue with the bank management. I would believe, in the case of rodent trapping on glue, that it is instead a case of perceived cruelty to the animals. Ever since the first glue traps came onto our market for rodent control animal rights activists have fought a bloody war against them, claiming they are an ugly form of cruelty and that the trapped animals suffer terribly while still alive on the glue. Maybe there is some truth to this and maybe there is not, but we still absolutely MUST eliminate the rats and mice that choose to live within our structures. Humans and peridomestic rodents are not compatible.
So, it may be that bank management has become aware of this anti-glue board campaign and has made their decision that it is accurate, and therefore they choose not to allow glue traps for rats or mice. That is their decision to make, and while I believe you have the right to present your side of the story and your reasons for continuing the use of rodent glue traps, they still have the final say. But, do discuss this with them to see what middle ground may exist, or where they may have some serious misperceptions about these traps that you can correct. The alternative, of course, is snap traps, which animal rights activists begrudgingly admit may be more "humane" simply because the kill of the trapped animal is much faster.
The decision not to allow traps for insects is more mystifying, except for the possibility that they believe that insect traps are also likely to trap rodents. Now, when it comes to animal rights activists the sky is the limit, as we saw two years ago when President Obama swatted a fly during a televised interview, and PETA immediately called a press conference and suggested the President should instead have a catch and release policy with house flies. There are those people in our society who believe we should never kill any animal at any time, although I suspect this moral standard has wiggle room based on what pests are bothering THEM. But, if the bank management does want you to discontinue the use of insect glue traps because they perceive it to be cruelty toward bugs, hopefully they can be persuaded to understand the need to capture the insects in this non-toxic manner. In one way or another invading insects are going to be killed, and glue traps do this very effectively.
If the issue is only the potential for insect glue traps to capture rodents then you can offer the use of smaller, enclosed insect traps where only insects would be able to get inside, and their mice can safely walk right over the top of the trap instead.
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