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A mouse is suffering from being trapped on a glue mouse trap - Source: YouTube -
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Animal welfare organisations are asking the public not to buy glue mouse traps because of their inhumanity.
Mice stick to the traps, which are made from square pieces of adhesive paper, and animal activists say that they suffer severely if they are not disposed of quickly.
"Glue traps are extremely cruel: they're one of the worst forms of cruelty you can actually do to an animal," says Hans Kriek of the lobbyist group Save Animals From Exploitation.
Expert Catch recommends that the traps are checked regularly and the mice quickly disposed of.
But SAFE says mice are often left suffering for hours.
"Research actually shows that mice might bite their legs off to try to escape the traps," says Kriek.
Packs of mouse glue traps can be bought at $2 shops throughout the country.
The traps are banned in Ireland and in the Australian state of Victoria, but not in New Zealand.
The head office of one $2 Shop in Lower Hutt told ONE News that they had stocked the traps for year, but SAFE says it will now campaign for the shops to stop selling the traps.
The National Animal Welfare Advisory Council recommended eight years ago that the glue traps be banned
"What we would be envisaging is almost certainly an immediate prohibition of use in domestic situations, and a gradual phase out of the use of these types of traps in the conservation and food hygiene areas," says David Bayvel of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Animal Welfare.
A report is currently on its way to the minister, with regulations banning the traps possibly in place by the end of the year.
A warning: Some of the images in the accompanied video may be found disturbing.
