SPCA calls for ban of glue traps
Imagine walking into an animal glue trap, having your hair torn away while struggling to free yourself before eventually dying from starvation or dehydration.
That was the ordeal a community cat experienced, according to animal welfare organisation the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), who posted a photo on Monday afternoon of a bedraggled cat that was trapped on a glue-board trap shown above.
SPCA said the cat was found in Blk 527 Jurong West Street 52, by people who had been feeding the cat on a regular basis. The cat was found to be caught in a glue-trap board about 4 by 5 feet in size which contained an excessive amount of glue.
She was found to be in deep distress and was panting heavily when she was brought to SPCA.
SPCA told Yahoo! Singapore that they have referred the matter to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) last Friday and asked them to review their request made in 2009 to ban such boards.
"SPCA has previously appealed to AVA to institute a ban of glue-board traps because of the suffering caused to animals that are trapped on them, not only rats, but other species," said the animal welfare organisation on their Facebook page.
Glue traps are usually placed indoors for rodent control and pests caught on these boards are thrown away with the traps, leaving the trapped animal to suffer for days, subjected to starvation and dehydration.
Animals with their faces stuck in the glue will slowly suffocate. In order to escape the trap, some animals will chew off its own limbs.
One SPCA Facebook user Kevin Yan said, "The trap is way too big to catch a rat. It can cause great danger to a toddler."
At press time, AVA said they will be issuing a statement on the issue when contacted by Yahoo! Singapore.
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