PETA UK has given a Proggy Award for Best Humane Wildlife Innovation to Rentokil Initial RADAR Pestconnect. The unit “humanely traps mice and rats and gently and instantly euthanises them with carbon dioxide.” The trap then sends an email to the customer and a text message to a Rentokill technician, who will come out to empty the trap before things get too stinky. The new trap is being praised as an alternative to cruel poisons, glue traps, backbreaking snap traps and live traps which aren’t checked frequently (and, as a consequence, can result in the animal’s slow death).

When I first read this story in the news I thought it was a joke. Are things really that rough in the UK that a machine which gases rodents to death must be praised by animal advocates? God forbid we suggest that people take the personal responsibilty to frequently check their live traps. Hopefully next year, Rentokil will win another Proggy for creating the same invention sans the lethal gas. They’d have my vote!

PETA offers some useful advice on living in harmony with mice, rats, and other wildlife who sometimes end up in our homes at their Helping Animals website. Too bad PETA UK didn’t check there first!

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