PETA Praises Self-Storage Companies for Banning Rodent Glue Traps

Update 8/9/2013 Self-storage real estate investment trust Extra Space Storage Inc. and Westport Properties, a California-based real estate developer and self-storage operator, have reportedly joined Uncle Bobs Self Storage in banning the use of glue traps to kill mice and other pests at their storage facilities. The animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently gave Westport a Compassionate Company Award after the company removed and banned the devices from its owned and managed US Storage Centers locations.

After a review of its properties, Westport found that two of its sites were using glue traps, PETA said. Similar to the recognition the advocacy group bestowed on Uncle Bobs in June, Westport will also receive a box of vegan chocolates shaped like mice. The company operates 71 facilities in nine states, with a large presence in California.

Launched in 1985, Westport Properties is a full-service real estate company specializing in the self-storage industry. Westport acquires, develops, builds and operates facilities in major markets that feature barriers to entry, dense populations and future rental-growth opportunity. The Westport portfolio of owned and managed properties totals more than 5 million square feet.

In a press release announcing its award to Westport, PETA also said Extra Space Storage had banned the use of glue traps. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 974 self-storage properties in 35 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The companys properties comprise approximately 649,000 units and 71 million square feet of rentable space.

6/13/2013 Sovran Self Storage Inc., a real estate investment trust that operates the Uncle Bobs Self Storage brand, has received praise from the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for banning the use of glue traps to kill mice at its storage facilities. Sovran is the first self-storage company to ban and remove the traps from all of its facilities, PETA said in a press release.

PETA said it would reward Sovran with a Compassionate Company Award and a big box of vegan chocolates shaped like mice.

"[Sovrans] more than 29 million square feet of storage space are now glue trap-free zones," said Daphna Nachminovitch, PETAs senior vice president. "By signing PETA's pledge, Uncle Bob's has spared countless mice, birds, and other small and vulnerable animals a terrifying and painful end."

The advocacy group maintains that animals caught in glue traps often break bones, rip flesh or chew off their own limbs while trying to escape the adhesive. As a result, caught animals tend to die from exhaustion, injury, shock, dehydration, asphyxiation or blood loss, PETA said.

An Uncle Bobs facility in Chesapeake, Va., was recently the target of an online petition on ForceChange.org in an attempt to get the operator to stop using glue traps. The petition garnered 640 signatures.

Other large companies that have banned the use of glue traps include ING Barings and Charles Schwab.

Sovran operates 471 self-storage facilities in 25 states, with a large presence in Texas.