Bank of America Wins PETA Award for Banning Cruel Slow-Kill Glue Traps

Largest Bank in U.S. Not Too Big to Have a Heart for Mice

For Immediate Release:
October 6, 2011

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382 

Charlotte, N.C. -- Charlotte-based Bank of America took a lot of knocks recently for instituting a $5 monthly fee on debit cards and for other services that were greeted with mixed reactions by its customers. But the financial giant is getting recognition from PETA and its more than 2 million members and supporters for a practice that has nothing to do with dollars and cents. That's because after learning from PETA about the cruelty of using glue traps to kill mice, Bank of America has banned the devices from every one of its 6,000 locations. For taking a stand against cruelty, Bank of America will receive a Compassion Award from PETA. The group is also sending a box of vegan chocolate mice to the bank's Charlotte headquarters.

"It is wonderful to see the largest bank in the country take into consideration the suffering of the smallest and most vulnerable animals," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "Thanks to Bank of America's decision to stop using these exceedingly cruel devices, many mice, birds, and other small animals will be spared a terrifying, prolonged, and painful death."

Glue traps are pieces of plastic or cardboard coated with a strong adhesive. After getting caught in the traps, panicked animals struggle to escape—often breaking their bones and ripping the flesh, fur, and feathers off their bodies in the process. Some animals chew off their own limbs in an attempt to free themselves, and others get their noses, mouths, or beaks stuck in the glue. The more the animals struggle, the more they stick to the traps, only to die from exhaustion, injury, shock, dehydration, asphyxiation, or blood loss. Glue traps are also ineffective and fail to address the source of the problem—more mice simply move in to take the place of the animals who have been killed.

Bank of America joins a growing number of businesses, institutions, and municipalities—including JPMorgan Chase & Co., the New York City Police Department, and the city of Eugene, Ore.—that have agreed not to use glue traps.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.