Problem Solving

Are Glue Traps Illegal?

In Britain, yes. Wales banned using them on October 17, 2023, England on July 31, 2024, and Scotland on July 1, 2026, when selling and even owning one became offenses too. In the US, no state or federal ban has passed, so the bans are city codes, all in California so far. We found no ban anywhere in Canada.

It depends on where you live, and the line falls between countries, not between products. Great Britain has banned them in three steps. North America has not, apart from a few California cities. In much of the US and Canada you can still buy a pack of glue boards at the hardware store and set it legally.

We read the three British bans, one federal bill, two state bills, four California city texts and one Canadian resolution. Culver City's ban we know only from another city's report. If the mice you are fighting live on spilled seed, the fix that makes a trap unneeded is on mice and rats at the feeder.

What counts as a glue trap#

A glue trap is a board or tray coated in glue that never dries. An animal that walks on it sticks, and it stays stuck until someone frees it or it dies. Sellers also call them glue boards or sticky traps. They do not kill. That is the whole case against them, and the reason a bird caught on one can still be saved.

Each law writes its own definition, and the definition decides what the ban reaches.

• England: a trap that "is designed, or is capable of being used, to catch a rodent" and "uses an adhesive substance as the means, or one of the means, of capture."
• Scotland: the same test, but for "an animal other than an invertebrate." An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone, such as an insect or a spider.
• Wales: any glue trap, where the animal it catches is "a vertebrate (other than a human)."
• West Hollywood and Ojai: "a device that is designed to, or is capable of being used to, capture any animal by means of an adhesive substance." Their "animal" includes "birds, rodents, reptiles, and insects."

So the words "capable of being used" matter. A board sold for insects can still be a glue trap under the English and Scottish wording if a mouse could stick to it. In the two California cities, insects count as animals too.

The rules we read#

Read the "In force" column first. Three rows are bills that failed.

Everywhere in the US outside those cities, and everywhere in Canada, glue traps are legal to buy and set on the rules we read.

Why the answers online disagree#

Search the question and you get "banned in the UK since April 2024" on one page and "legal everywhere" on the next. Both are wrong in a way you can check.

The England date. The Act passed in 2022 but did nothing until a minister switched it on. The switch is SI 2024/686, which was "made at 4.45 p.m. on 22nd May 2024." It started the license rules that day and everything else, including the offenses, "on 31st July 2024." A ban said to start in April 2024 would have started before the rules that started it existed.

"Banned in the UK." Each British law covers its own country. England's offense is setting a trap "in England," Wales added its own wording "in Wales," and Scotland passed a separate act. None of the three reaches Northern Ireland, and we did not find a Northern Ireland rule. England's law is also narrower than people think. It bans setting a glue trap, not selling or owning one, and it only protects rodents.

"The first state to ban them." That was the headline for New Hampshire in 2025 and the hope for Colorado in 2026. Both bills died in their House, so no state has a ban yet. The bans that exist are city codes.

Counting cities. PETA called Laguna Beach the fifth US city with a ban. Berkeley's March 2026 report counted three with sale and use bans. The two lists were made at different times and did not count the same thing, so read the city's own code, not the count.

One pack of glue boards in six places#

Take one case and walk it through the rules. Suppose you bought a four-pack of glue boards online. Mice are chewing into the seed bin in your garage, so you plan to set two boards behind it and give the other two to a neighbor. Here is how that reads in six places in November 2026.

1. Cardiff, Wales. Setting the boards has been an offense since October 17, 2023. It would still be one if you meant them for insects, as long as they are "likely to catch any animal" with a backbone. Section 46 says nothing about owning or giving away the pack.
2. Bristol, England. Setting the boards for mice has been an offense since July 31, 2024. Only a pest controller with a license may do it, and only for public health or safety. You cannot get that license as a homeowner. Owning the pack and giving two away are not offenses under the Act.
3. Edinburgh, Scotland. Since July 1, 2026, the pack itself is the problem. Possessing a glue trap "without reasonable excuse" is an offense. So is giving two to your neighbor, since the law's word "supply" includes "making a gift of it."
4. West Hollywood, California. Setting the boards is unlawful, and no store in the city may sell or display them. Both rules apply "after May 31, 2024."
5. Colorado. Legal under state law. The state bill that would have banned them died on April 20, 2026. We read no Colorado city code.
6. Toronto, Ontario. Legal. We found no Canadian rule against them.

In every one of the six, the mice are still eating the seed. A metal can with a tight lid ends that in all six places, as storing bird seed explains, and no law asks you to own one.

England: rodents, from July 31, 2024#

Section 1 of the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 creates four offenses.

• Setting for rodents. "A person who sets a glue trap in England for the purpose of catching a rodent commits an offense" (s. 1(1)).
• Setting so a rodent could be caught. Setting one "in a manner which gives rise to a risk that a rodent will become caught" is also an offense (s. 1(2)). This covers a board set for something else.
• Letting someone else do it. Knowingly causing or permitting either offense (s. 1(4)).
• Leaving one you find. If you find a glue trap set in a way that risks catching a rodent and, "without reasonable excuse," fail to make it safe, that is an offense too (s. 1(5)). Believing it was set under a license is a reasonable excuse.

The first three carry up to 51 weeks in prison, a fine, or both. The Act says to read that as six months until another part of the criminal law takes effect. The fourth carries a fine only. A court must also take away any glue trap used in the offense.

The only way around it is a glue trap license under section 2. The minister may grant one to "a pest controller" for "preserving public health or public safety," and only when "there is no other satisfactory solution." A homeowner is not a pest controller.

For birds, England already had a rule. Section 5(1)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 bans using "bird-lime or substance of a like nature to bird-lime" to kill or take any wild bird. The same Act governs trapping house sparrows in England and keeping a feather you find.

Wales: any vertebrate, from October 17, 2023#

Wales moved first and went wider. Section 46 of the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023 adds two offenses to section 11 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

• (bc): setting "in position in Wales any glue trap which is of such a nature and so placed as to be likely to catch any animal coming into contact with it."
• (bd): using "in Wales for the purpose of killing or taking any animal any glue trap," however it is set.

"Animal" here "means a vertebrate (other than a human)." That takes in mice and rats, and also birds, bats, lizards and snakes. The section came into force on October 17, 2023. Section 46 has no pest controller license written into it, and it does not ban selling one. The same section bans snares. We did not read the penalty for these offenses.

Scotland: use, sale and possession#

Scotland's law is the strictest we read. Part 1 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 came into force on July 1, 2026, under SSI 2026/127. Three sections matter.

• Use (s. 1). Using a glue trap "for the purpose of killing or taking any animal other than an invertebrate," or in a way "likely to cause bodily injury" to one.
• Supply (s. 2). Supplying or offering to supply one. Supply includes selling, swapping, giving as a prize and giving as a gift.
• Possession (s. 3). Simply having one.

Each is an offense unless you have a "reasonable excuse," and each has the same penalty. On summary conviction it is up to 12 months in prison, a fine up to £40,000, or both. On indictment, the more serious route, it is up to five years, a fine, or both.

The only users allowed are people authorised under a scheme in section 5. The Act lets ministers authorise someone only if it is "necessary or expedient" for "protecting public health" and "no other method of rodent control is practicable."

United States: three bills, no law#

No federal law and no state law we found bans glue traps. Three bills tried.

Federal. H.R. 7018, the Glue Trap Prohibition Act of 2024, was introduced on January 17, 2024 by Rep. Ted Lieu, with Rep. Adam Schiff. It would have changed the federal pesticide law to ban the sale and use of a "covered glue trap," meaning one "designed to cause the death of a rodent through starvation, dehydration, or suffocation." It went to the House Committee on Agriculture and did not pass before that Congress ended in January 2025.

New Hampshire. HB 152 of 2025 was titled "prohibiting the sale and use of adhesive-based rodent traps." The House environment committee voted 9 to 5 on March 11, 2025 that it was "inexpedient to legislate." On March 26, 2025 the House voted 190 to 140 to postpone it indefinitely, which ends a bill.

Colorado. SB26-062, "Rodenticide Use Restrictions," was mostly about rat poison. It would also have barred a person from "selling, distributing, applying, or using" rodent glue traps, outside limited public health emergencies. The Senate passed it 22 to 12 on March 18, 2026. On April 20, 2026 the House agriculture committee postponed it indefinitely, 11 to 2, and the bill was lost.

The California cities#

West Hollywood came first of these. Its Municipal Code 9.53.020, added by Ordinance 23-15 in 2023, has two parts:

• "It is unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or display for sale, glue traps within the City of West Hollywood after May 31, 2024."
• "It is unlawful to set, place or otherwise use a glue trap or permit another person to set, place or use a glue trap to capture or kill any animal within the City of West Hollywood after May 31, 2024."

The chapter we read has no exception for pest controllers and no penalty section of its own.

Ojai copied the wording. Ordinance 951 added Chapter 16, "Use and Sale of Glue Traps," to Title 5 of its code. The council introduced it on February 27, 2024 and adopted it 5 to 0 on March 12, 2024. It took effect "30 days after its passage," which by our count is April 11, 2024. Like West Hollywood's, the chapter has no exception for pest controllers. A violation is an infraction, the lowest class of offense, punished by a fine. The city can also use its administrative fines. We did not read the fine amounts.

Laguna Beach adopted Ordinance 1728 on April 28, 2026, by 5 to 0, two weeks after introducing it. Its published notice says the ordinance bans the sale and use of glue traps in the city and adds section 6.24.070 to the code. The notice gives no start date and names no exception.

Culver City also bans use and sale, in Municipal Code 9.01.800 to 9.01.815 of 2025, according to Berkeley's report. We did not read Culver City's code.

Berkeley has not banned anything yet. On March 24, 2026, three council members put a referral on the consent calendar. It asks the City Manager "to ban glue traps within City of Berkeley limits, including the use by any individual or organization and sale of glue traps." It also asks for posted notice "in all stores selling rodent traps." A referral sends the job to city staff to draft. It is not a law, and the report itself says "hardware stores across Berkeley currently sell glue traps." More on feeding birds in the state: California.

Canada: no ban found#

We found no federal, provincial or city law in Canada that bans glue traps. The nearest thing is a request. In September 2024, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities adopted resolution NR54, which asks the province for a ban on their sale and use across British Columbia. A resolution asks the province to act. It does not make a law, and we found no provincial ban since.

Canadian towns do regulate what draws rodents to a feeder, and those by-laws are on are bird feeders illegal in Canada. Feeding in a Canadian winter is on southern Canada.

Why it matters under a bird feeder#

A glue trap set for mice cannot tell a mouse from a sparrow. Under a feeder, the birds most at risk are the ones that feed on the ground, which is where the spilled seed and the mice are.

The numbers come from rescue centers. Berkeley's report cites the WILD-ONe database of wildlife hospital records. It says glue traps have caught "more than 179 species" over ten years, including "dozens of species of federally protected birds." It also reports that San Francisco's animal control answered 46 glue trap calls. The animals included crows, pigeons, a California scrub jay, a sparrow and a finch. Toronto Wildlife Centre has treated a Lincoln's sparrow hurt in one, along with bats and snakes.

That is why our snakes page warns against glue traps outdoors, and why the rodent fix starts with the seed, not a trap. Cut the spill with a tray and hull-free seed, as cutting the spill explains, and see seed mess and hulls for the hull pile itself. Chipmunks live on the same spill; see chipmunks at the feeder. If you cannot tell what is eating the seed at night, my feeder empties overnight sorts it out. Some cities fine a feeder that feeds rats, which is on bird feeder rat ordinances.

If a bird is stuck in a glue trap#

Do not pull it free. The rescue groups we read all say to cover the glue and bring the bird in, in this order.

1. Do not pull. A vet at the Wildlife Center of Virginia told WHSV that birds on glue traps lose many of their feathers, and "can dislocate their wing joints, they can break bones." Pulling adds to that.
2. Cover the bare glue. Toronto Wildlife Centre says to use "any safe granular substance like cornmeal to cover any of the exposed glue so that the animal doesn't get stuck further as it is struggling." The Virginia center names "flour, cornstarch, or paper." Wear gloves.
3. Box it, trap and all. Then "put the animal on the glue trap in a box in a quiet place." Dark and quiet keeps the bird from fighting the glue. Do not offer food or water.
4. Take it to a rehabilitator. A wildlife rehabilitator is a person licensed to care for injured wild animals. Find one through finding a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, and take the box in as soon as you can.

The reason to wait is how slow the real job is. The Virginia center has to use mineral oil to free a bird, and then bathe it to get the oil off. A guide written for rehabbers on Wildlife Rehabber says to cover each patch of glue with tissue as it is exposed. It frees the wings and legs first, to lower the risk of fractures, and snips feather tips rather than pulling them. A bird freed that way may still need care until its new feathers grow. International Bird Rescue took in a gull so stuck "that its wings were actually glued to the sides of its body." Freeing it took "a combination of Dawn, methyl soyate and Goo Gone," used in a full wash by trained staff. How to hold a bird safely meanwhile is on handling an injured bird.

Then throw the rest of the pack away, and do not set more near the feeder.

Where this page stops applying#

This page reads three British laws, three failed US bills and five California cities, four of them in their own text. It does not cover Northern Ireland, Ireland or the other countries with bans. Nor does it cover US cities beyond these five, or any Canadian city by name. Check your own city's code before you buy, because a city ban can pass in a single council meeting. We did not read the penalties in Wales, West Hollywood or Laguna Beach, whether the 1981 Act's general licenses reach the Welsh offenses, Laguna Beach's start date, Ojai's fine amounts or Culver City's code. Whether a fly strip or an insect card counts as a glue trap in a given case is for the officer or court that enforces the rule. The English, Scottish and two California definitions are wide enough to take some in, and we found no guidance on it. Nothing here covers rodent poison, which is its own risk to hawks and owls, or what your tenancy or pest contract allows. This is a reading of statutes, ordinances and bills, not legal advice.