Tuesday, 18 February 2025

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (17:35): (1403) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is for him to prohibit the sale of all glue traps in Victoria. Recently I received an email from a wildlife rescuer, and the attachment contained an image of a dead microbat covered entirely in glue. The email explained that rescuers had done everything that they could do to help, but the injuries were, by design, too extensive and euthanasia was the only option. It was the second call this rescuer had received in two weeks for the same problem. In fact non-target species becoming trapped in archaic glue traps is widespread and commonplace. That is despite most being prohibited under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Regulations 2019, which the Animal Justice Party helped secure at the time. These horrific devices work to trap and then slowly inflict fatal injuries on all kinds of small animals as they struggle desperately to escape.

The laws prohibiting their use exist because they are unimaginably cruel, but an exception is made for insect traps, provided they feature a barrier or cage to prevent larger animals from becoming stuck, and this is exactly where the problem lies. Lawrence Pope from Friends of Bats and Bushcare recently attended 50 convenience and dollar stores across Melbourne to find that around 90 per cent of them were still selling illegal glue traps. They are either overtly advertised for larger animals or sold as insect traps, but without the compliant barriers. Despite countless reports to Crime Stoppers, illegal traps are spotted frequently, and the only action taken is that of volunteer wildlife rescuers. Their work is being multiplied by call-outs to entirely avoidable emergencies and situations that are already illegal. Victoria is home to 23 species of microbats, including the critically endangered southern bent-wing. This ecologically significant bat is one that scientists believe will become extinct within the next 40 years if there is no intervention. This is just a simple thing that this government could do to safeguard their future, and I hope the minister will intervene to outlaw all kinds of cruel and replaceable glue traps.