Time for a Change: Why SF Should Ban Glue Traps

Change was a theme at the September meeting of the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. image: AdobeStock

October in San Francisco always feels like a season of change. The late summer heat finally starts to break. Pumpkin spice laces everything from lattes to cocktails. Halloween decorations start to adorn the city (a friendly reminder: please choose your halloween decorations wisely - fake spiderwebs and other decor are notorious for harming birds and other wildlife.) 

Change was also a theme at the September meeting of the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. That’s when commissioners voted unanimously to support  recommendations to the mayor, Board of Supervisors, and city administrator to ban the sale and use of glue traps in San Francisco.

Glue traps, intended to catch animal “pests” like mice, rats, and insects, are ubiquitous across San Francisco and beyond. The method is simple: animals walk onto an extremely sticky pad where they are stuck and unable to escape. By design, they are then forced into a slow death from dehydration, starvation, or suffocation. Sometimes people throw the traps in the trash while the caught animal is still alive. Other times, a rat may try to escape by chewing off one of its own limbs. In short, the outcome is always an unnecessarily painful death.

But the problems with glue traps don’t stop with the inhumane treatment of the target animals. Glue traps are indiscriminate so they will trap any animal that crosses its surface. Often, treats intended for rodents or victim insects will lure birds or other animals onto the traps. At the April 2025 commission meeting, WildCare Wildlife Hospital, a San Rafael nonprofit that provides medical care and refuge to wildlife, shared detailed firsthand accounts of the harms from glue traps. Since 2017, WildCare has treated hundreds of glue trap victims across 49 species. Sadly, victims are not always able to be saved.

The cruel nature of glue traps, as well as their ineffectiveness as a real rodent control solution, has led jurisdictions across the world to impose restrictions or bans on their sale and use. West Hollywood and Ojai are the first cities in the United States to pass glue trap bans. Commissioners hope that San Francisco will soon follow suit with its own ban.

Getting the vote on glue traps to the commission took a lot of work from many  passionate advocates and residents. Thank you to Alison Hermance of WildCare Wildlife Hospital and Jakob Shaw of PETA for joining our meeting to share their knowledge with commissioners. Thanks are also due to Commissioners Irina Ozernoy and Michael Angelos Torres, Professor Matthew Liebman, and activist Ashley Hoffman from the University of San Francisco School of Law Justice for Animals Program for their contributions as well.

Change can be good, and we hope this one will be. As commissioners, we look forward to more progress on the glue trap issue while we continue to advocate for our furry (or feathery, scaly, or slimy) friends.

Please consider joining one of the commission’s upcoming meetings to tell us about the animal issues that you think are important. See you at City Hall!

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The next meeting of the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare will be held at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, October 9, in Room 408, City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA 94102. Information about remote access to meetings is available at sf.gov/animalcommission. Agendas are published 72 hours prior to the meeting.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of Commissioner Garfinkel and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare.