Rodent control is necessary in many agricultural and urban settings, but the methods used vary enormously in the suffering they cause to target animals and the risk they pose to non-target wildlife.
Rodent control involves an unavoidable welfare trade-off: rodent infestations cause real harm to crops, stored food, and human health, but the animals killed in control programmes are sentient beings capable of experiencing pain and fear. The welfare outcome depends entirely on the method chosen. Glue traps, which are legal in most jurisdictions, cause some of the most prolonged suffering of any pest control method and should be avoided entirely. Anticoagulant poisons cause slow, painful deaths and secondary poisoning in predators. Snap traps and carbon dioxide kill traps cause rapid death with minimal suffering. Non-lethal exclusion addresses the problem without killing. The choice between these methods reflects a genuine ethical commitment to minimising unnecessary suffering.