The Pittsburgh mannequin saves mice from electrical shock and wins the PETA award

For immediate publication:
February 18, 2021

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

Pittsburgh – Local animal rights attorney and model Anna Kovach received the PETA “You Can Make A Difference” award after single-handedly convincing QVC to drop a mousetrap that electrocuted animals.

Kovach insisted that the retailer stop selling the traps – and after hearing from her several times, QVC agreed to her request. This success is the latest in a long line of efforts to advance animal rights, including using their modeling platform to promote feral cat rescues, untested cosmetics, and vegan foods.

“Anna’s persistence and QVC’s adaptability won this victory for sensitive mice and rats,” said Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of PETA. “PETA urges others to follow suit by abiding by humane rodent control and always advocating for animals.”

Kovach receives a certificate and a copy from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s One Can Make a Difference, a book about visionaries as diverse as Dr. Henry Heimlich, who invented a life-saving heart valve, and filmmaker Rebecca Hosking, who used her documentary on the death of albatrosses from eating plastic to England’s first ban on plastic bags in her hometown.

Deadly traps, including electronic traps, will indiscriminately kill any small animal they encounter, including birds, squirrels, and kittens. Such traps also fail: when animals are killed, the resulting increase in food supplies leads to accelerated breeding and an increased population of survivors and newcomers.

PETA, which has a humane mousetrap for sale on its website, recommends the following for humane rodent control:

• Put all food and waste in sturdy, well-sealed containers that rats and mice won’t chew through, and feed companions indoors (and pick up dishes when they’re done eating).
• Trim back vegetation around buildings, pile wood in dense piles away from the house, and plug holes larger than ¼ inch, cracks in walls and floors, and gaps around doors, windows, and plumbing.
• After protecting a building from rodents, catch live rats and mice that are still inside and remove them. Use a commercially available Havahart trap or make your own. Check the trap every hour and release any captured rats within 100 meters of their location.

PETA – whose motto is in part: “We must not abuse animals in any way” – opposes speciesism, which is a human supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group up Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.