Baylor Mice Melee Prompts PETA Plea to Property Managers: Be Kind Even to the Least of Them!
For Immediate Release:
September 14, 2023
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
In response to a Baylor Lariat article about how mice and rats continue to inhabit Park Place Waco, an apartment complex popular with Baylor University students and owned by Park7 Group, PETA plans to erect an appeal near the building to urge the New York–based property management company to tackle the problem using humane rodent control methods that have proved effective.
The group also sent a letter today to Park7 Group CEO Ron Gatehouse reminding him that landlords are responsible for rodent-proofing their properties humanely and that failing to do so means that renters pay a price and that rodents—who are smart animals and can certainly suffer—pay the highest price of all: losing their lives for just trying to survive. The letter points out that killing these small mammals who are just trying to get by only causes others to move into newly vacated spaces and provides tips on how the company can proceed with safety for all in mind, including by providing sturdy and well-sealed trash containers, trimming vegetation so that it’s away from buildings, and sealing holes larger than 1/4-inch in diameter, cracks in the walls and floors, and gaps around doors, windows, and plumbing.
“Mice and rats are intelligent, affectionate little animals who form close bonds with their families and friends, enjoy playing and wrestling, and even giggle when tickled,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is eager to help the student tenants evict their rodent roommates nonviolently and urges Park7 Group to act with common sense.”
PETA is also sending a letter to Baylor University’s student body president, Nick Madincea, with tips on living with rats and a request for him to share those tips with students. The group urges everyone to avoid using glue traps and poisons at all costs, as such egregiously cruel methods cause animals to die slowly and agonizingly over a period of days. They also don’t work, as more unwanted animals will move in to replace the ones who have been killed.
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 on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.
