On March 11, the New Hampshire House Environment and Agriculture Committee voted to kill HB 152, which would have prohibited the sale and use of adhesive-based rodent traps, commonly called glue traps. The committee disregarded the hundreds of citizens who urged them to pass this bill. They didn’t care about the obscene cruelty of these traps, that the animals stuck in the glue die slowly, in agonizing pain, from starvation dehydration or suffocation. They dismissed the many more humane, non-chemical options available for rodent control. They ignored the advice of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department that glue traps should be avoided. They disregarded testimony from wildlife rehabilitation professionals about the non-target animals often captured in glue traps, including squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, skunks, bats, songbirds, snakes, salamanders, toads, turtles, frogs and even kittens and puppies. They scoffed at the many New Hampshire Statutes and Administrative rules that contradict the use of glue traps, such as RSA 206-19:B, which states that any person who causes a wild animal, fish or wild bird to be tortured or mutilated, either purposely or negligently, is guilty of a Class B felony or a misdemeanor respectively. The members of the committee who voted against HB 152 are: Representatives Judy Aron, Barbara Comtois, Catherine Kenny, Seth King, Laurence Miner, Kevin Scully, Kelley Potenza, Liz Barbour and Lisa Freeman. If you care about animals, please contact these legislators and tell them that torturing and mutilating animals is not acceptable in our state.

Jean Slepian

Stoddard