A bill proposed by Councilmember Harvey Epstein would outlaw the sale of sticky boards that doom furry critters to a slow, painful death.
by Benjy Sachs March 16, 2026, 5:00 a.m.
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After years of hard-fought battle, the city may finally be entering an era of rat harmony — or closer to it.
Newly elected Councilmember Harvey Epstein (D-Manhattan) recently introduced a bill to outlaw the sale of glue traps aimed at mice and rats in the city. The traps are small boards covered with an adhesive that ensnares the critters.
Animal-rights advocates argue that the traps are inhumane, as they cause a slow death for trapped rodents, and can be unsafe for pets and children.
“The way glue traps work is harmful not just to the animals but to family pets and society at large,” Epstein said.
The lawmaker, whose district spans the East Village and the Lower East Side, introduced a similar bill during his seven years as a state assemblymember in Albany.
The call for mercy toward rats comes at a time of heightened contempt for the city’s most reviled rodents.
Vigilantes and even dogs hunt for rats by night. Mayor Eric Adams famously declared a “war on rats,” then appointed a “rat czar” to combat the scourge. He instituted a policy of filling rat burrows with carbon monoxide. As a mayoral candidate, Curtis Sliwa called for feral “cat colonies” to catch them.
Adams’ efforts made something of a dent on the city’s rat population, data shows.
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The containerization of trash and implementation of a composting program contributed to a 20% decline in rat sightings from 2024 to 2025, according to the Department of Sanitation and data on 311 calls.
Rat Race to the Bottom
New Yorkers have coexisted with rats for centuries, but the relationship has always been fraught. In the fight, rats have numbers on their side; according to the book “Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants,” one pair of the four-legged creatures has the potential to create “15,000 descendants in a year.”
Yet, Epstein argues that the city should implement less violent methods to keep the rats at bay, such as containerization and sealing holes in apartments.
“I think what we’ll do is reduce the population,” he said. “We’ll coexist with them like we coexist with other wildlife.”
Another sponsor of the bill, Councilmember Farah Louis (D-Brooklyn), said she is more concerned with glue traps being risks to humans and pets.
“Sometimes children or pets get caught in the trap,” she said. “That’s the reason why I supported the bill.”
Animal rights groups such as PETA hailed the bill’s introduction, while a spokesperson for Voters for Animal Rights called glue traps cruel and ineffective.
“It is slowly growing as a movement,” spokesperson Laura Tartaglia said, noting a trend of jurisdictions, such as Ulster County, forbidding the sale of the controversial adhesive boards or considering doing so. “I think people see that this is just unethical.”
Even professional rodent killers see the trap as a sticky wicket. Gene Miller, owner of Broadway Pest Services in Midtown agreed that using them is cruel.
“Once a mouse is caught on a glue board, they basically die of starvation,” Miller said. “I’m the owner of this company and I don’t agree. I think it’s bad.”
Miller also doesn’t find the traps very effective.
“If we put out hundreds of traps,” the exterminator said, “we would only catch a few [rodents].”
Miller still sells glue boards, though. He said his customers like to see them because they give the appearance of a no-holds-barred approach. So every pest control service uses them, creating a rat race to the bottom.
“If other companies are going to use glue boards and I’m not, then I have to explain to my clients why.”
Exposing the Big Game 