Books-A-Million Nabs Kudos for Glue-Trap Ban

Retailer Shows Its Big Heart for Small Animals Following PETA Request

For Immediate Release:
February 9, 2016

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

A box of delicious, mouse-shaped vegan chocolates is on its way to Books-A-Million for its kind decision not to use glue traps—devices that indiscriminately immobilize small animals—after hearing from PETA that animals may struggle for hours, tearing flesh, breaking bones, and becoming increasingly entangled in the adhesive. Books-A-Million currently operates 260 stores in 30 states.

“By banning these vile torture devices, Books-A-Million is implementing protections that could spare countless mice, birds, and other small animals a terrifying death,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA will continue to call on other retailers to follow Books-A-Million’s kind example by never bringing glue traps onto the premises.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—explains that glue traps are pieces of plastic or cardboard coated with a strong adhesive. After getting caught in the traps, panicked animals struggle to escape—often breaking their bones and tearing the flesh, fur, or feathers off their bodies in the process. Some animals chew off their own limbs in an attempt to free themselves, and others get their noses, mouths, or beaks stuck in the glue. The more the animals struggle, the more they stick to the traps, only to die from exhaustion, injury, shock, dehydration, asphyxiation, or blood loss. Glue traps are also ineffective and fail to address the source of the problem: More mice simply move in to take the place of those who have been killed.

Books-A-Million joins a growing list of dozens of institutions and companies—including schools, universities, the New York City Police Department, retailers, banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., and self-storage companies such as ezStorage, A-1 Self Storage, and Extra Space Storage—that have banned glue traps.

PETA has humane solutions to every “pest” problem, from rats to raccoons. For more information, please visit PETA.org.