Alberta's image as world's only rat-free region shattered by discovery of rat
5 hours ago
- Alberta has been officially rat-free for over seven decades, sharing that status with Antarctica and the high Arctic.
- A dead rat was discovered in Bowden, Alberta, prompting an investigation by the province's rat patrol.
- Global rat populations are surging in major cities due to rising temperatures, with increases of up to 390% in Washington DC.
- Alberta actively prevents rat infestation through a comprehensive Rat Control Program established in 1950.
- The province's geography (mountains and boreal forest) and the Norway rat's inability to survive in natural areas aid rat control.
- In the 1950s, Alberta created a rat control zone along the Saskatchewan border and used arsenic trioxide to curb rat spread.
- The province amended the Agricultural Pests Act in 1950, requiring everyone to destroy rats and launched educational campaigns.
- Today, the rat patrol receives many reports, but most turn out to be muskrats, voles, or field mice, not actual rats.
- Alberta's rat-free status means no resident rat population exists, but occasional rats may still appear.