Big Win for Small Animals! Ventura Bans Glue Traps After PETA Push

For Immediate Release:
March 24, 2026

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

After hearing grisly details from PETA, local wildlife rehabilitators, and animal advocates about how birds, rodents, escaped pet hamsters and even a dog suffered slow and painful deaths after running afoul of sticky glue traps, the Ventura City Council voted this evening to ban the use and sale of cruel glue traps, making Ventura the fourth U.S. city—and the largest—to do so. The measure was championed by City Council Member Liz Campos and Deputy Mayor Doug Halter in partnership with PETA.

Animals whose faces and bodies get stuck on glue traps panic and struggle desperately but vainly to escape, sometimes attempting to chew off their own limbs before succumbing to starvation, dehydration, asphyxiation, or blood loss. And glue traps fail as a long-term rodent control solution because they fail to address the source of the problem: as long as food remains accessible, more animals will move in to take the place of those who have been killed.

“Banning glue traps is an issue of basic morality,” said City Council Member Liz Campos. “It’s a recognition that all life is valuable and that we have an obligation to protect animals from cruelty.”

“I really believe that it’s our responsibility to help encourage people to be humane to other living creatures,” said Deputy Mayor Doug Halter. “People think, gosh, we have so many big problems today, are we really going to talk about glue traps? Well, it’s one simple way to show that we still have compassion and empathy.”

“Ventura’s ban is a big win for small animals, who will no longer die in terror and agony after being caught by these vile devices,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is celebrating the City Council’s compassionate decision and urges everyone to humanely prevent unwanted visitors by sealing entry points and removing food sources—and never resort to glue traps or other cruel killing methods.”

Both mice and rats are highly social animals who become attached to each other and love their own families. Male mice and rats woo their mates with high-pitched love songs that are inaudible to the human ear. Mice live in family groups, play together, and enjoy sleeping curled up with their social partners.  

Hundreds of companies and other entities—as well as countries including England, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales; three Australian states and one territory; 32 states and union territories in India; and the California cities of Ojai, Culver City, and West Hollywood—have all banned glue traps.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.