poor glued wren

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Glue traps!

Sticky. Fatal. Please do NOT use them. Yuck! 

Yes, they may catch a mouse but it is a horrible way for the small rodent to die. Slow. Agonizing. Scary. GHASTLY! But glue traps also catch other animals including birds. And it is just as gruesome for them.

I have a state education permit issued by TWRA, not a rehabilitator's permit. But from time-to-time I get a call to transport an injured animal from UT Veterinary Hospital to local wildlife rehabilitator Lynne McCoy in Jefferson County. 

This morning, it was a Carolina wren that had been found glued in a trap. UT was able to clean off the goo but the poor songbird lost a lot of feathers, especially its secondary flight feathers on the trailing edge of its wings. For the time being, it cannot fly.  

Lynne will care for it: protect and feed the passerine until it is able to molt and regrow its lost plumage. And then, return it to the wild. Most of her rescues have a happy ending.

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Yet, to add further misery to this miserable story, Carolina wrens tend to mate for life. So somewhere there could be a second wren mourning the loss of its partner.
   
Please do not use glue traps! They are a nasty way to die. A slow death by starvation or panic sets in and they die of a heart attack or they get their nostrils blocked by the glue and then suffocate. 

Think about it!

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