Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/rat-trap-danger/
Heavy-duty snapping rat traps with interlocking teeth, while very effective at killing rats, pose great threats to other non-pest animals and pets.
These traps are not meant to be placed outdoors where other animals can reach them, Pest Control Weekly reports, but the package labeling and directions are not clear enough, and some animals are difficult to deter even from small areas.
These traps are especially dangerous because the interlocking teeth make “escape virtually impossible” for rodents, as well as larger animals.
Heavy-duty snapping rat traps with interlocking teeth, while very effective at killing rats, pose great threats to other non-pest animals and pets.
www.sfgate.com/local-donotuse/article/Rat-trap-skunk-trapped-rodenticide-poison-rat-x-12192540.php
As SFGate reports, Rescuers on the Central Coast of California have responded to multiple emergencies involving skunks caught in rat traps.
Wildlife Emergency Services originally contacted the original manufacturer, Bell Laboratories in 2014, in response to an increasing number of animals injured or killed in these types of traps. In this letter, warning labels were suggested to help reduce the number of non-target wildlife injuries.
These traps are not meant to be placed outdoors where other animals can reach them.
Tomcat, the consumer brand of rodent traps manufactured by Bell Laboratories, was acquired by Scotts Miracle-Gro the following year.
Bell Laboratories has been asked on multiple occasions to add a distinct warning label to retail packaging and include safety precautions specific to wildlife, pets and children in marketing sell sheets, wherever instructions for consumers are advertised, and in training material for industry professionals, Wildlife Emergency Services reports.
Bell Laboratories previously made changes to their products’ documentation, but that hasn’t been enough to stop pets and non-pets wildlife from being killed and seriously injured.
Bell Laboratories previously made small changes to their products’ web page and sell sheet, clarifying non-target exposure and how it can be prevented, but that hasn’t been enough to stop pets and non-pets wildlife from being killed and seriously injured.
More and more animals are being found caught in these spring-loaded traps, the Vancouver Sun reports. Even large animals like foxes and deer are at risk.
More and more non-target animals are being found caught in spring-loaded rat traps.
It is time to demand better warning labels on these products!
Join us in asking Bell Laboratories and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, leading manufacturers of these types of rat traps, to add warning labels on packaging and wherever these products are sold, in stores and online.
Click below to make a difference.
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
