From World Bird Sanctuary

Please don’t use glue traps! No one likes having a rodent problem but glue traps are not a humane solution. Animals caught in glue traps will struggle to free themselves, often breaking limbs in their efforts, but without success. They then typically remain stuck to the glue trap until they die of dehydration or starvation. Larger animals can also become stuck in glue traps, either when trying to eat a smaller animal that is stuck or by encountering it independently. For birds, glue traps have the added detriment of damaging their feathers, even if they are fortunate enough to be found and freed from the trap.

Barred Owl 24-167 was picked up by animal control after someone reported the owl in apparent distress and was unable to fly. Animal control brought the owl to our facility for care. Upon intake, the cause of the owl’s distress was immediately obvious, a large glue trap stuck to the right wing, leg, and tail was preventing them from standing normally, let alone flying. It took our staff about 20 minutes to remove the glue trap from the feathers with the aid of mineral oil to help prevent the feathers from sticking again once freed.

Unfortunately, the damage to the feathers is extensive and prevents 24-167 from flying. In their struggle to free themselves, several of the feathers shafts became broken or split, which may have compromised their structure too much to be able to imp in healthy feathers. We plan on imping as many of 167’s damaged feathers as possible to try and release them sooner. We won’t know until after the imping procedure if enough of the feathers can be imped to restore flight or if 167 will have to remain with use for several months in order to molt new feathers of their own.