Animal rights campaigners hope to see a swift end to the use of glue traps now that there's a formal ban on them.

The traps are a crude way of trapping small rodents - basically a piece of card with a very sticky surface.

Hans Kriek of the welfare campaigners SAFE says an animal getting stuck on one suffers a slow and distressing death.

"Glue traps are disgustingly cruel and anyone using them now can actually be prosecuted for animal cruelty and that's about time."

It's no longer legal to use the traps, and anyone who sees them on sale is asked to report it to the SPCA or MPI's animal welfare hotline.