Kind to Cockroaches? PETA Makes Case for Humane Bug Control

For Immediate Release:
August 16, 2023

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Like spiders and centipedes, cockroaches can seem frightening when we find them in our homes—and with heat waves hitting much of the country, we can expect more of them to seek cooler temperatures indoors. But the truth is that they don’t know who we are or that they’re in our space, and they’re probably more afraid of us than we are of them. So this summer, PETA is releasing compassionate tips on ridding homes of cockroaches without resorting to lethal means. We hope you’ll share these humane options with your audience:

• Don’t attract roaches with food. Wash dishes promptly, store food in tightly sealed containers, and keep trash in bins with tight-fitting lids.
• Remove roaches’ hiding places. Keep compost heaps as far from your house as possible, always wash out food containers before storing them for recycling, and don’t let old newspapers pile up.
• Prevent roaches from entering your home by sealing holes and cracks. Baby roaches can squeeze into a space as thin as a dime.
• If you see roaches, scatter whole bay leaves or catnip throughout your house. Iowa State University scientists found that catnipis 100 times more effective than DEET at repelling roaches.

“Franz Kafka was born a century before there was PETA, but even he knew that cockroaches are some of the most misunderstood beings on the planet,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Since cockroaches are just trying to survive and seek refuge, the least we can do is to show them out without reaching for Raid.”

More details about bug-proofing homes are available here.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.