Cats injured by glue traps meant for rats at Redhill
Several cats in Redhill have been injured by glue traps.
According to Cats of Redhill, a Facebook community page for the cats in the neighbourhood, as of last Saturday, three cats have been caught in glue traps that were laid near Hao Mart outlet on Redhill Road.
Two of the cats were sent for treatment, the community page said in a post.
The minimart manager, Mr Chen, who is in his 60s, told Chinese paper Shin Min Daily News that the minimart had engaged a pest control company to resolve a rat issue which began two years ago.
According to Mr Chen, the pest control company, Rentokil, visits the minimart every month to get rid of the rats, and that glue traps are one of the anti-pest measures.
But in recent weeks, some cats were caught in these traps.
Several residents of the area have asked him to remove them, Mr Chen added.
The glue traps have been helpful, he told Shin Min, and that there have been days where up to three rats were caught in the traps.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesman for Rentokil said that it placed the glue traps only within the minimart.
The spokesman clarified that the glue board in the bushes where one of the cats was trapped was not placed by Rentokil as it was out of the mini-mart's "boundary", and suggested that the glue traps could have been "tampered" with.
"We do not put glue traps in bushes as this is simply ineffective, as rain, sunlight and outdoor moisture will quickly render the glue trap useless," the spokesman said.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' (SPCA) executive director, Dr Jaipal Singh Gill, told ST yesterday that it has received feedback from the public about the matter and is investigating.
"The SPCA is against the use of glue-board traps as they cause unnecessary suffering to animals trapped on them," Dr Gill said.
"We have written to the authorities before to ask for a ban on these traps. We strongly encourage the public to not use glue-board traps and retailers to stop the sale of such traps."
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
