I normally like to reserve my blog for happy and healthy subjects, but once in a while I can't resist. This is one of those times. Read this post, then tell HGTV to drop Ortho Mice Killer commercials from their shows. Animal cruelty sponsors make me "booo" out loud (and change the channel). The consumer review I read right on the product website horrified me. Please read if you are an animal lover like me...
Tell HGTV to Drop Ortho Mice Killer Commercial.
Tell HGTV to Pull this commercial! These products represent and entire industry. I don't like thinking about it, but I get it. (Especially living in NYC.) But I have a huge problem with the fact that furry fuzzy mammals get thrown into the category of pest. It boggles my mind that many people keep these creatures as pets, while many of them are simply thought of as disposable pests.
HGTV Commercial. I was watching HGTV last night and saw a commercial for Ortho's new Home Defense MAX Kill and Contain Mousetrap. They call it the "clean" way to eliminate and kill mice. It has a "no see feature" and the commercial shows how you can easily drop the dead mouse in your trash can without ever seeing it. To me, it's such a perfect metaphor for how our society treats animals. No one wants to take responsibility or see the truth and consequences behind their actions. People will easily kill pests or eat animals only if they don't have to see the truth and reality about how that happens. (Sorry if I'm getting too dramatic, but animal cruelty is a subject I am passionate about.)
First, watch the video "commercial" online here. This isn't the exact commercial as I saw on TV, but both are selling the same inhumane product.
But the commercial isn't even the worst part. I felt compelled to post this consumer review I read on the main page of Ortho's product web page:
Consumer Review:
"We were hoping to make it quick and painless for them. After waiting an hour and going back out to check the traps, I noticed that one was tripped. Upon kneeling down to pick up the trap, I saw a tail moving
around on the inside and could hear little mouse cries for help. Not
sure of what to do at this points we decided that maybe he is just
stuck so we would let him go. As we lowered the trap lever, the back
end of his little body was sticking out of the opening. So we pulled
him out slowly by the tail and placed him on the ground only to see
that the trap had broken his back two legs. He tried crawling away with
all his might with just his two front legs. The poor thing probably has
some sort of internal injury as well." -notafan, consumer review on Ortho's website
A Humane Mousetrap: The Mouse Depot, allows the mouse to check in, but not "check out" ALIVE until you let it. http://www.themousedepot.com/
Best way to contact HGTV: tweet them an @reply of this post. HGTV Twitter: @HGTVofficial
Or you can contact HGTV on their site. (it's just a contact form though)
You can even copy and paste the letter that I sent them:
"Dear HGTV,
I was horrified by the commercial I saw on your channel last night for Ortho MAX Kill and Capture Mousetrap.
Please remove this sponsor commercial-it is inhumane and the consumer reviews online show that the product hurts the mouse and may not even kill them. There are much greener ways of 'pest control' such as humane mousetraps that DO NOT KILL the mouse. (And there were more negative review similar to this one:
""We were hoping to make it quick and painless for them. After waiting an
hour and going back out to check the traps, I noticed that one was
tripped. Upon kneeling down to pick up the trap, I saw a tail moving
around on the inside and could hear little mouse cries for help. Not
sure of what to do at this points we decided that maybe he is just
stuck so we would let him go. As we lowered the trap lever, the back
end of his little body was sticking out of the opening. So we pulled
him out slowly by the tail and placed him on the ground only to see
that the trap had broken his back two legs. He tried crawling away with
all his might with just his two front legs. The poor thing probably has
some sort of internal injury as well." -notafan, consumer review on Ortho's website
Sincerely, HGTV fan,
your name"
Thanks for listening. Boo mice killers.
