While the Bible allows the consumption of certain animals, avoiding cruelty to animals is a fundamental principle in Judaism.

There are numerous references to it, from the prohibition of cutting off the limb of a living animal and forbidding the taking of eggs from a bird’s nest when the mother can see it to not leaving an overburdened donkey on the ground and feeding your livestock before you yourself may eat. 

Now, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection Minister, Tamar Zandberg, has proactively asked the public not to use glue strips to catch mice or rat – instead, one should use a box trap that keeps them alive so they can be released without harm. 

Her ministry has launched an information campaign to persuade the public not to capture rodents in a way that will cause them injury or an agonizing death.  The reusable box solution is efficient, cost-effective and practical, said the ministry, which has issued a video in Hebrew and Arabic. 

The campaign, which is being carried out digitally through the Government Advertising Bureau, is intended for the general public and includes a targeted appeal to Arab and ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) sectors.

Adhesive traps for capturing mice and rats, which are sold in stores to anyone who wants them, are a method of capture that can cause exhaustion, hunger, thirst and eventual horrible death of rodents when the person returns to the trap days later. 

In addition, various other animals such as birds, snakes, turtles, and hedgehogs can often be caught in the glue traps. Animals covered by the Wildlife Protection Act are also among the captured animals that have died on the glue traps. 

The ministry stressed that glue traps should not be replaced with rodenticides. The use of pesticides is permitted for the holder of a valid exterminator license and only in accordance with the provisions of the labels. Pesticides should be kept out of the reach of children and animals.