Why does alberta have no rats

Rats are thought to have spread the Black Death in the Middle Ages, as they do other viruses today. Rats arrived in Canada in the 18th century, but geographical isolation kept the invaders from reaching Alberta for a solid two centuries, until the first signs of the rodents started to appear along the border with Saskatchewan after the end of World War II.

Calgary Herald , a division of Postmedia Network Inc. In Vietnam, for example, the creation of the Hanoi sewer system at the turn of the 20th century saw a boom in rat numbers; in response, in the French colonial government began paying a bounty for their carcasses—that is, until it realized locals were breeding them to cash in on the reward.

In Washington, D. Canadians may not have been as enterprising as the Vietnamese or as bloodily patriotic as the Americans, but they have been far more successful. The brown rat Rattus norvegicus thrives only among human settlements, so farms and towns became the battlefields for the fight against invasion in Alberta. Mass chemical warfare cleansed the borderlands, with some 63, kilograms of arsenic powder blown across thousands of buildings. A infestation in the Medicine Hat landfill was a record-setter, with nearly rats eventually rooted out.

Today, the provincial government focuses mostly on stories placed regularly in the Canadian media covering the success of the program, instead of the sneakiness of the rodent.

Across the Pacific, another former colonial outpost is struggling with European invaders, at far greater cost. New Zealand has had a rodent problem ever since the Maori brought the kiore, or Polynesian rat, with them in canoes in the 13th century. But the first R. Rats and other nonnative species, such as possums and stoats, slaughter approximately 25 million birds a year. Alberta government rat posters.

Provincial Archives of Alberta, PA How to identify Norway and roof rats, and tell the difference between rats and Alberta rodents commonly mistaken for rats. History of the program. Since , Albertans have been safe from the destruction rats cause and the diseases they carry. Prevention and control. Prevent rat infestations around your property through food source and rat shelter removal, and rat proofing. If you see a rat, safely take a picture, note the location, and send us the information one of these ways:.

Your submissions are monitored by our web team and are used to help improve the experience on Alberta. If you require a response, please go to our Contact page. You will not receive a reply. Funding, however, was in dispute; these municipalities argued that they were spending funds to protect the entire province from rats. Rat bait was supplied free of charge to all municipalities that had appointed a pest control inspector.

Warfarin, the first anticoagulant rodent poison, was available in Warfarin was developed in Wisconsin, where finely-ground corn was the recommended bait substrate. However, corn was not normally available to rats in Alberta, and bait acceptance was poor. A series of field trials during to showed that coarsely-rolled oats gave satisfactory results, and this bait substrate is still used in Alberta today.

The amount of bait used in the control program increased annually until about and then levelled off with the yearly requirements varying between 5, and 13, kg of dry warfarin bait and between and 4, litres of water-soluble warfarin.

Public education and information continued. Posters and brochures on rat control were widely distributed; displays were presented at local fairs, picnics and rodeos; and talks were presented to schools, 4-H clubs, agricultural societies, Chambers of Commerce and to just about anyone who would listen. Although there was some initial resistance, public interest and support for rat control was favorable, particularly from people who had rats. As an example, 7 meetings were attended by almost people in the Medicine Hat area during February The rats were unwanted, but some residents were concerned about potential dangers to children, pets and livestock from poison baits.

Because of the association of baits with the dangers of strychnine, warfarin baits were removed or destroyed. At a series of meetings with members of Indigenous communities, an Alberta Agriculture staff member ate warfarin-treated rolled oats while discussing rat control and the physiological effects of warfarin. He was able to effectively demonstrate the relative safety of warfarin to concerned community members, and they were able to move forward together.

The Agricultural Pests Act made rat control mandatory. Property holders who failed to control rats and disregarded repeated encouragement and warnings from pest control inspectors could be served with an official warning. Failure to comply with the terms of the warning could result in a court action.

However, legal recourse was not used for several years until the public was educated in rat control. The first court case did not occur until In , some 17 notices to control were issued and 3 court actions and convictions resulted. At that time, court cases were heard by a local magistrate who was usually a locally prominent citizen, often a merchant or postmaster. Therefore, rat control was enforced as well as supervised at the local level.

The court actions apparently had the desired effect, for no more than seven notices to control rats have been issued in any year since The City of Lloydminster presented a special problem in rat control because the municipality straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

Obviously, rat control in Lloydminster, Alberta, would have been difficult if there were no control in the Saskatchewan portion of the city. This dilemma was resolved by orders in council by the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan that declared that the Agricultural Pests Act of Alberta applied to Lloydminister, Saskatchewan.

The number of known rat infestations in the border area increased rapidly from one in to in , and the numbers varied between and during to After , the numbers of infestations dropped dramatically Figure 6.

Hence, almost 10 years passed before an accumulation of training, experience and public education brought the rat problem firmly in hand. Figure 6. Number of known infestation in the rat control zone. Rat control in Alberta has not changed markedly since The bulk of control is conducted by pest control inspectors hired and supervised by rural municipalities along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

All premises within the 29 x km control zone from Montana to Cold Lake are inspected at least annually Figure 3. The number of premises inspected annually varies between 2, and 4, Rat infestations are eliminated by bait, gas or traps.

Buildings are occasionally moved or torn down, and in some cases, rats are dug out with a backhoe or bulldozer. Farmers within the control zone are encouraged to eliminate rat food sources and harborages as well as to maintain permanent bait stations. Rats within bale stacks of hay and straw are a continual problem, so farmers are encouraged to place bait within the lower one or two layers of bales when the stacks are built. Pits are dug for municipal garbage disposal sites so that garbage can be buried or burned, and sites are fenced to channel garbage into the pits.

Saskatchewan initiated a rat control program in , which may have reduced the number of rats moving into Alberta. Over the years, meetings have been held with personnel from Saskatchewan to share information and discuss common problems.

Some municipal employees from Alberta also work on rat control in Saskatchewan to reduce rat migration into Alberta. Newer anticoagulants have been used, but warfarin is the standard poison. Colored confetti was added to the rolled oats as a safety precaution in