Sorry FTM, what you described does sound rather disgusting, but we have a rodent problem around our home and as far as I'm concerned almost any successful means of catching or killing a mouse or packrat is a good one. I normally just use common spring loaded type mouse traps, and even those things can get pretty disgusting to empty and reset, but it's worth it to keep the foul little buggers at bay and stop them from trying to move in and make my home their home. I can't say I have ever used a glue board and I doubt I ever will. but I have in the past used plenty of poison although I avoid using it in the house simply because I don't want them to crawl off into some hiding place and start rotting and sticking up the house. What is at stake is more than the mere annoyance of having them share our food and living space with them, they breed so fast and carry all kinds of diseases and my families lives and health come first over any rights or discomfort of rodent that try to invade my home territory. Don't get me wrong, I do not enjoy the inhuman treatment of any creatures, I just find it hard to sympathies when there is plenty of wild open acres all around for them to enjoy and live in peace. Invade my home though and the gloves are off, and don't expect any mercy.

However, if you want to talk about man's inhumanity to man and human rights, read this article from Amnesty International. It's my own little rant (well, not just mine) that focuses on real people getting caught in a much larger sort of figurative "Glue Pad" and suffering and dieing. At least if a mouse was caught in a glue pad in my house I would know he was guilty (because he was caught in my house), but if I started putting glue pads all over the place in the bushes out side my home with the hope of stopping mice before they ever entered my house you could be sure that I would be causing many innocent mice to suffer and die needlessly.

One good quote from that article "Respect for human rights is the route to security not an obstacle to it."

Good quote, mucky.

Yeah, if we're not willing to check our traps frequently and kill what we caught quickly, we have no right to set traps. A trap like that is what's referred to as having the courage of the knife but not the courage of the blood. It's wrong to have one without the other.

hello, mucky. at least a spring trap usually brings on an end quicker. also, please don't misunderstand that i would put animal welfare over humans. i know that isn't what you are saying, but i felt the need to say that. thank you for reminding me of this ongoing problem. i do not often get time to watch television and i do not get the newspaper.

FTM, I agree that glue traps are the worst.

I have spring-loaded mouse traps, my old farm house would be over run with the little rodents if I didn't. While I don't run screaming at the sight of a mouse turd, I do object to them in the silverware drawer.

But at work (no matter how many times I have objected) 'glue traps' are used as well. If the traps aren't checked daily the mice starve to death or try to chew their legs off, and if the are, the 'checkee' must finish the 'trapee' off. I will NOT have anyone just toss them live into the dumpster, so do you just smack 'em with a hammer? Not me. Sorry to say, but as senior tech I get to deligate, with the demand that it be done quickly!

Who ever thought up the idea has no clue...

"please don't misunderstand that I would put animal welfare over
humans. I know that isn't what you are saying"

Your right, I wasn't saying that, I am just ranting, same as you :)
I seldom watch news on TV or read news papers either, I get most of my news through the internet, and sometimes off the radio when I'm driving. My favorite talk show host is Diane Rehm. She has had a lot of guest of late talking about Guantanamo and related subject lately.
Actually I was just drawing an analogy between the two forms of traps. I had just finished reading that article when I read your post and since it was in my head I started seeing some similarities. Although one is for humans and one for mice, both have similarities that they trap their victims and hold them in cruel and inhuman ways. Both have more human ways of dealing with the victims, but are still used because they are seen as more effective and efficient by those implementing them.
Spring mouse traps have a high failure rate inherent in their design, where I believe the glueboard are probably much more effective, once that mouse steps on there it's a done deal.
With Guantanamo, and like prisons (detention centers???) around the world, human rights issues are not an obstacle to holding whom ever they have caught indefinitely, or using whatever means to extract information and so are seen by those implementing them as being more effective, also they are more efficient because they don't have to provide the detainees with legal representation or lawyers or any of that nonsense.
Also both are messy, disgusting and inhuman, and most people would rather just not talk about it.