Humane Pest Control: Managing Conflict Humanely

Pest control often involves methods that cause significant animal suffering; humane alternatives exist for most common pest management contexts.

Key Facts

Glue traps cause prolonged suffering through struggling, dehydration, self-injury, and starvation — they are banned in several countries but widely available in others
Spring snap traps for rodents, when correctly sized and placed, cause rapid death and are more humane than glue, poison, or cage-and-drown methods
Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) cause internal bleeding over several days and kill predators including owls, red kites, and foxes through secondary poisoning
Integrated pest management approaches use a hierarchy of methods beginning with exclusion, habitat modification, and deterrence before lethal control
Fertility control for pest species including pigeons and mice is in development as a non-lethal alternative to lethal population control

Welfare Considerations

The welfare harms caused by conventional pest control are enormous and largely unnecessary given the availability of more humane alternatives for most contexts. Glue traps cause prolonged suffering that is genuinely severe and serve no pest control function that cannot be achieved by more humane means. SGARs kill not only target rodents but non-target wildlife through secondary poisoning, extending welfare harm through ecosystems. A precautionary humane pest management approach applies the least harmful effective method and uses lethal control only when non-lethal alternatives have been exhausted.

What You Can Do

Replace glue traps in your home or business with snap traps, live traps, or exclusion methods
Advocate for a ban on glue trap retail sale in countries where they remain available
Avoid SGARs (brodifacoum, bromadiolone etc.) in favour of first-generation rodenticides or non-poison methods
Support integrated pest management approaches in agricultural and urban contexts that minimise lethal control
Raise awareness of secondary poisoning of wildlife through rodenticides with others who use pest control products