Adrian
Benepe Commissioner New York City Department of Parks and
Recreation The Arsenal Central Park 830 Fifth Ave. New York, NY
10065 212-360-1305 212-360-1345 (fax)
Liam Kavanagh First
Deputy Commissioner New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The
Arsenal Central Park 830 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10065 212-360-1307 212-360-1345 (fax)
Dear Sir, I
was informed that The New York City Parks and Recreation Department are using
glue traps to kill rodents.
Glue traps are responsible for more
suffering than virtually any other wildlife control product on the market.
Glue traps are inhumane. Most animals caught in glue traps suffer slow and
agonizing deaths. They literally rip off the bottom of the rodents feet and
sometime the rodents actually chew their own feet off in order to escape. It
may take three to five days for an animal to die, perhaps even longer for a
reptile. Some animals succumb to exhaustion, collapse face down in the glue and
die of suffocation when the glue lodges in their nasal passage, a process that
can take anywhere from three to 24 hours. Most often death comes from a
combination of exhaustion, dehydration and starvation.
Rodents aren't the
only ones who fall victim to glue boards; birds, bats, squirrels, snakes,
raccoons, and even kittens and puppies can get caught in these barbaric
traps.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider
glue traps to be a disease risk because ensnared animals defecate and urinate
out of stress and fright.
I urge New York City parks and
recreation officials to remove the glue traps and stick with less cruel forms of
rodent control.