Last month, a family in Rockland County, NY spotted a deer with a rat trap caught on its snout. Animal protection officials and the Hudson Valley Humane Society attempted to locate the deer in the hopes of removing the trap, which was preventing the deer from eating. 

At this point, it is likely that an innocent deer was starved to death by a trap that claims to be made for rats.

This is NOT the first case of innocent animals being injured by rat traps. In 2009, a man in England was prosecuted by the RSPCA for “causing unnecessary suffering to an animal” after his neighbor’s cat was killed in a rusty rat trap, set in the neighbor’s garden to solve a rat problem.

The trap that most likely killed the deer in Rockland County is the Trapper T-Rex Trap. It claims to offer “superior rat capture” but its design does not prevent non-target animals from being caught in it.

There needs to be a change in the way we go about preventing unwanted animals from entering our homes. Deadly traps may be fast and effective, but the chance of these methods harming innocent animals is too great.

Traps like the Trapper T-Rex Trap that purport to be for specific animals should not be able to injure and ultimately kill other species.

By signing this petition, we implore companies like Bell Laboratories, the makers of the Trapper T-Rex, to either:

1) take this product and products like it off the market completely, or 

2) modify the design of these traps to guarantee that they can not injure or kill non-target animals

For tips on how to humanely handle a rat presence in your home, click here: http://www.peta.org/issues/wildlife/living-harmony-wildlife/rats/