lpjobs / CC

It's true: Dollar General cares—about its customers' concerns and about animals.

After we received complaints that Dollar General, which has thousands of stores across the U.S., was selling hideously cruel glue traps, we wrote to the bargain retailer. In our letter, we described how animals who get stuck on glue traps can suffer for days before finally dying of starvation or dehydration. Many victims of glue traps rip their skin from their own faces and bodies as they try to escape, and some resort to chewing off their own limbs while trying to free themselves. We also let the company know that there are plenty of humane ways to deal with mice and rats.

Dollar General responded to our letter by announcing that it will stop selling glue traps. Just like that. The company didn't hem and haw—officials simply made a compassionate decision.

Dollar General joins other large retailers, including Albertsons, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, and Safeway, that have stopped selling glue traps after discussions with PETA. Please thank the company for its decision—and then ask home-improvement biggie baddie Lowe's to follow suit.

Posted by Karin Bennett

Last year, PETA filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Motomco, the glue trap manufacturer that supplies Lowe's with its sticky death traps. Our complaint stated that Motomco was selling misleadingly labeled glue traps designed to make people believe that these traps were somehow acceptable. The label stated that the glue trap contained a naturally occurring anesthetic called eugenol, implying that animals caught in the trap did not suffer or feel pain. In reality, they do suffer and feel extreme pain.

We recently received a letter from the FTC letting us know that our complaint has officially been closed—because Motomco has removed the misleading claim about eugenol from its packaging and promotion materials!

Since Motomco's glue traps are the only brand that Lowe's sells—and Lowe's claims that it only sells glue traps that are "humane" because of eugenol—we hope that the change in Motomco's packaging will be the final push that Lowe's needs to pull glue traps from its shelves. Because it can no longer hide behind Motomco's misrepresentations, we've written to the home improvement company asking it to immediately rid its stores of the cruelest mouse traps on the market today.

Humane alternatives do exist and it's time for Lowe's to join other retailers, including Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Safeway, Dollar Tree, and Albertsons, in banning the sale of glue traps. Click here to find out how you can help.

Posted by Karin Bennett

I bet it made your Monday to read how one determined woman helped countless small animals by convincing Gelson's to pull glue traps from its stores' shelves. (Really, how dang adorable is the mouse in that post? I could stare at her all day.)

Let us make your Friday too. Check out this year's ever-growing list of companies, businesses, and agencies that have pledged to not use gruesome glue traps ever again, all because of the hard work of PETA and our supporters:

• Notables at the Party Store: Lexington, Kentucky
• AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) software company: Austin, Texas
• Central Technical School: Toronto, Ontario
• Manhattan building owners Richard and Hilde Basch: New York City
• USPS facility: Baltimore, Maryland
• JPMorgan Chase banks
• American Eagle Outfitters stores
• Virginia Beach School District: Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Knox County School District: Knox County, Tennessee
• Carroll County School District: Carroll County, Maryland
• Princeton School District: Princeton County, New Jersey
• Fashion Institute of Technology: New York City
• Lanterman Developmental Center: Costa Mesa, Orange County, California
• Ireland's Four Provinces Restaurant: Falls Church, Fairfax County, Virginia
• Local restaurant: Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, Florida
• Lowe's: West Jordon, Salt Lake County, Utah (This store stopped using glue traps to catch birds—now if only the chain would stopping selling the traps as well.)
• Circle Center Mall: Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana (birds)
• United States Postal Service: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky (birds)

And we're waiting for the final word from the following:

• Costco: Gaithersburg, Maryland
• L.A. Unified School District: Los Angeles County, California

I'm sure there are many more establishments that we haven't heard about. Make PETA Files readers' week by leaving a comment below about any businesses you know that have sworn off glue traps.

Posted by Karin Bennett

ehow / CC

Renee's letter to Gelson's—in which she described how mice and other animals suffer hemorrhaging, shock, and other horrors when stuck in "pans of pain"—earned a speedy reply from the chain. She admits, "I was actually surprised at the quick, positive, and friendly response …."

Friendly indeed! Gelson's immediately assured Renee that it would stop selling glue traps as soon as its current stock ran out. Thankful that Gelson's was taking such swift action, Renee still thought that something more could be done, so she offered to buy the chain's remaining stock of 123 glue traps. The entire stock was shipped to her, and she destroyed them.

Renee's refusal to rest until rodents were spared has earned her our "Compassionate Action Award"—it's also a reminder that one person really can make a difference for animals by taking action. Now are you ready? One … two … three … go!

Posted by Karin Bennett

ehow / CC

After learning that animals caught in glue traps die a slow, agonizing death by starvation—often after trying to gnaw off their own limbs in a vain attempt to free themselves—the ever-trendy, animal-friendly clothing chain has joined JPMorgan Chase in swearing off the use of glue traps in its stores.

Leave a comment below to congratulate American Eagle, then head on over to our Get Active page and let Lowe's know that it should follow AE's example and stop selling glue traps in its stores.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on this Win It Wednesday. The winners of the humane mousetrap are Christina Eckhart, Ipstenu, and Jennifer Short. Congratulations!

It's almost spring, the time when a young mouse's fancy turns to thoughts of love. Next thing you know, you may start hearing the pitter-patter of little mouse feet on your attic floorboards. Now, we know you would never want to hurt one of these cute little guys, but we can understand if some of you don't want them setting up a love nest in your box of old LPs. That's why we're offering up three of our popular humane mousetraps for "Win It" Wednesday.

PETA's mousetraps are great because mice can be caught alive and unharmed and released outdoors. The same can't be said of glue traps, which we've been begging Lowe's for months to stop selling. It's like they don't care that animals caught in these traps can suffer for days before finally succumbing to starvation, dehydration, or suffocation.

How do you win? Post a comment with your thoughts on why Lowe's should stop selling glue traps. The three people who post the most persuasive answers will each win a humane mousetrap.

The contest ends on April 1, 2009, and we'll choose the three most persuasive comments as the winners on April 3, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Check back every Wednesday for new prizes. Good luck!

Posted by Lianne Turner

smashin / CC

We contacted James Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase—which recently acquired WaMu—and explained that animals entangled in glue traps often suffer from torn flesh and even broken bones resulting from their panicked efforts to escape. JPMorgan Chase's vice president promptly announced that the company has ditched glue traps permanently and will be opting for more humane methods of resolving conflicts with mice and rats (we recommend these). Yay!

As a leading company, we hope that JPMorgan Chase will inspire other companies (ahem, Lowe's) to ditch glue traps too.

Feel free to post a comment below thanking JPMorgan Chase for sticking up for mice.

Posted by Liz Graffeo

Lately, we've been stepping up our campaign to convince Lowe's to stop selling glue traps. In addition to our notorious "sexy mice" demos, we've designed a brand-new billboard, and today we're contacting officials in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Charlotte, North Carolina, to request prominent placement of the ad in their cities. We all know that the real villain here is Lowe's, but we hope that these billboards will educate the public about the cruelty of glue traps and convince people to use only humane methods of managing mice. Check out the billboard below:

Oh, and if you have any creative ideas about how we can target Lowe's next, leave a comment and let us know!

Posted by Liz Graffeo

When you have an epic battle as big as PETA's campaign to convince home improvement behemoth Lowe's to stop selling glue traps, you have to decide if you are "a man or a mouse," as the saying goes. Personally, I'm a mouse. I'm PETA's original "sexy mouse," in fact. Yes, that's me, writhing in a giant "glue trap" outside Lowe's annual meeting last year.

As a proud sexy-mouse veteran, I'm pleased to unveil the newest addition to our Lowe's campaign:

But don't worry! Our classic "sexy mice" are still hitting the streets to let shoppers know that animals stuck in glue traps can suffer for days before succumbing to starvation, dehydration, or suffocation.

Leave a comment and let us know which demonstration you like the most: the traditional sexy mouse, "Mickey" and "Minnie Mouse," or our giant rat and anti-Lowe's minivan. I think you can guess which one is my favorite.

Posted by Liz Graffeo

To learn more and take action against the sale of glue traps, click here.

Click for a larger version

To check out the archives of past strips, click here.

photobucket / CC

G'day, mates! I'm stoked to tell you that the blokes in Victoria, Australia, have given the flick to cruel mousetraps. It's a rip snorter of a decision, and our hats are off to ya. Onya, Aussies!

Translation: Hello! Great news: The government in Victoria, Australia, just passed its new and improved Prevention of Cruelty to Animals regulations and (drum roll, please) glue traps are now highly regulated and can only be used by commercial pest-control operators and only after they get approval from Victoria's agriculture minister. This is a landmark victory for animals and will significantly cut down on the number of glue traps used in Victoria. Yay!

It seems the whole world is realizing that glue traps are cruel and unnecessary (it's about time!). Animals who become trapped in the sticky adhesive substance suffer for days before succumbing to starvation, dehydration, suffocation, and shock. The torturous conditions drive animals to rip off patches of skin and fur while struggling to escape, and many even attempt to chew off their own limbs. Safeway, Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens, the Dollar Tree, and now the whole state of Victoria have banned the cruel traps. So come on, Lowe's! Won't you please stop selling them already?

You know what's even more amazing about Victoria's new regulations? The passing of the updated resolutions not only strictly regulates glue traps but also does the following:

• Bans the use of twisted bits on horses
• Bans the transportation of dogs and livestock in the boot of a car
• Restricts the use of some electric-shock devices on animals

You can check out the full version of the regulations here.

Anyone up for a victory barbie?

Posted by Liz Graffeo

keystoneequity / CC

Why am I personally so extremely excited? Well, of course, there's the fact that taking glue traps off the shelves will prevent huge amounts of suffering, because animals who become trapped in them often tear off patches of skin or fur in their frantic efforts to escape. Sometimes they even try to chew off their own limbs.

However, this also means that I will now have the perfect place to grab my last-minute stocking-stuffers this year (circa December 23 or 24, which is when I typically start shopping).

I hope my giftees will be as delighted as you all must be. But don't forget that we still need your help to get Lowe's to stop selling glue traps too. Click here to take action.

Posted by Sean Conner

Our fearless campaigners have been hard at work exposing cruelty to animals—and sometimes quite a bit of themselves—all across the country!

A Lowe's in San Diego received a visit from a bikini-clad "mouse," who lay in front of the store on her own glue trap. In case you didn't know, Lowe's still sells hideously cruel glue traps— the kind in which animals can suffer for days before succumbing to starvation, dehydration, suffocation, and shock.

Meanwhile, PETA demonstrators have been visiting cities in Iowa and Nebraska to show the eating populace exactly what factory farming means for animals with these eye-catching gestation crate sculptures. It's hard to buy ham and Spam when you are crying!

Finally, our "tiger" visited some cities in the southeastern U.S., where she sat in a cage to demonstrate the cruelty of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Shreveporters were especially interested to see our tiger, because the last time PETA came to their town, the demonstrators were dragged off by the police! This time, law enforcement officials behaved themselves. Our tiger also captured a lot of attention in Little Rock!

And, while we're on the subject of Ringling Bros.—we heard that Hansons Windows, a home repair company in Michigan, was offering free circus tickets. No, that's not the great news—the great news is this: When we wrote to the folks at Hansons Windows and explained to them how animals in Ringling circuses are beaten, forced to perform tricks, and kept in chains or tiny cages for most of their lives, the president of Hansons ended the promotion!

Kudos to Hansons Windows for making the compassionate choice—and kudos to our campaigners for the great demos!

Posted by Amanda Schinke

Though we can all agree that neglecting to feed an animal companion is pretty low, what about knowingly starving or denying an animal water until he or she dies? Well, that's what glue traps do, which is why selling them makes Lowe's the lowest of the low.

We've sent out one of our custom campaign vans to visit Lowe's stores in North Carolina, to remind shoppers of what, exactly, the glue traps that Lowe's sells inevitably do—cause immense suffering and ensure a slow death to whatever animal is unlucky enough to touch one.

Check out the photos from our demo (and just imagine what you'd think if you passed this van with our mouse friend here in the driver's seat … yeah, we're good at grabbing attention):

Unlike other major retailers, such as Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Albertsons, and Safeway, Lowe's has refused to drop these deadly devices from its inventory. Join Ms. Giant Rat in encouraging Lowe's to change its cruel policy.

Posted by Sean Conner

Imagine stumbling into a sticky substance so strong that you couldn't break away from it. Frantic, you struggle to pry yourself free, but all that happens is that you tear patches of your skin and hair off or get your mouth and nose stuck in it and start to suffocate.

That is exactly what mice, rats, birds, squirrels, hamsters, kittens, and other small animals stuck on glue traps endure. Some even try to chew off a paw in order to escape otherwise certain death. Some, helplessly trapped, die of dehydration. Motomco, which makes some of these little torture devices, is telling shoppers that one of its products is humane. George Orwell might be spinning in his grave.

Here's the scoop: Motomco puts a substance called eugenol in the trap, citing that it is a "naturally occurring anesthetic." Eugenol can be a pain reliever but only when it is injected into an animal's bloodstream or pumped directly into the stomach. But just as you don't get drunk by rolling around in alcohol, animals' pain isn't taken away when they come into contact with eugenol. In fact, studies show that eugenol can cause animals to suffer more by causing a painful burning sensation, vomiting, and nausea.

Is Motomco trying to sell its sticky glue traps by duping compassionate consumers who don't want to harm animals? We think so, and PETA has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeking action against the company for false advertising.

You can read our FTC complaint here. If you have purchased a Motomco trap, thinking it was a humane solution, or if you know people who have, please let us know!

Oh, and if this whole ordeal with Motomco weren't bad enough, Lowe's is still selling these terrible contraptions.

Posted by Grace Friedan

This little logo—which PETA is using in our efforts to urge Lowe's to stop selling cruel glue traps (archaic torture devices that trap small animals, causing them to suffer from suffocation, starvation, and mutilation)—is apparently causing big headaches for the company:

Last week, the company that manages Lowe's trademarks sent the head legal counsel for PETA a letter claiming that our logo parody infringes on their trademark rights and demanding that we stop using it.

Our legal eagles fired back with a letter saying, in short, "Umm, not quite." (Though, as lawyers always tend to be, they were a bit more technical than that.) In the letter—sent to LF LLC (which has the most generic, nondescript corporate name EVER)—our corporate counsel wrote:

[PETA's parody of Lowe's logo] is entirely consistent with the Lanham Act and no reasonable consumer could confuse any of these items as originating from or belonging to Lowe's. We do not believe that LF seriously contends than an appreciable number of consumers who see an image of a bloodied dead mouse slouching across the top of a slogan that reads "Lowe'st of the Low: Torture for Sale" would be confused into thinking that Lowe's is the source of the publication. If Lowe's is truly concerned about its goodwill, we recommend that it end its sale of cruel glue traps.

Pow! That's gotta hurt—though not nearly as much as being caught in one of Lowe's glue traps.

We have an urgent action alert up on our site right now, asking department store chain Lowe’s to pull the glue traps from its shelves ASAP. The deal with glue traps (as a lot of people find out the hard way when they use them) is that they’re exactly as crude as they sound. Animals trapped by glue boards generally die of starvation, dehydration, self-mutilation, or shock after they’ve finally exhausted themselves struggling to get free. The whole process, as you might imagine, is just supremely unpleasant, and not the sort of thing that any self-respecting home improvement warehouse should be endorsing.

You can make that point to Lowe’s through the handy little web form on this page.