Twice a year, a patrol team analyzes the barns, straw bullets and grain storage containers along a 600-kilometer section of the Alberta-Asakatchewan limit. They are looking for rats, continuing a mission of 75 years to prevent rodents from becoming home in the province.
“My grandfather,” says Lincoln Poulin, president of Poulin’s pest control, “was known as the man who killed 10 million rats.”
Napoleon Poulin invented a round -called Poulin’s Rat Doom and was a key figure in the first days of the Alberta Rats Control Program, established in 1950 after Norway rats were discovered in an Alberta farm.
The rodents, which are believed to originate in China, arrived for the first time in the east coast of North America in 1775 and gradually extended west, traveling about 24 kilometers per year and arriving in Saskatchewan in the 1920s.
By 1959, the number of infestations in Alberta increased to 573. But after 1959, they collapsed, reaching zero in 2003, according to the Alberta government.
The outbreaks occur, but not often
Karen Wickerson, a specialist in Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation pests, manages Alberta Rat control program, which means that she is known in some circles such as Alberta’s lady.
If a rat is found, the patrol establishes traps, bait stations and cameras. The goal is to get rodents before starting a family and spread, said Wickerson.
The Rat Control Zone extends along Alberta Eastern limit between Cold Lake, Alta., To the American border with Montana.
The patrol approach is in East Alberta because it is difficult for rats to overcome the mountains in the west, Montana has a very low population of rats in the south and the north is too cold and scarcely populated, Wickerson said.
The Alberta Rats Control program has been in force for 75 years. The program, established in 1950, makes workers patrol the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta throughout the year.
While there are occasional outbreaks, such as 2023 shoots in two recycling plants in Calgary, they are rare.
In general, rats come to Alberta by chance.
“They can be self -fiddist in a grain shipment,” said Shelby Oracleski, a agricultural fieldmate of the Wainwright municipal district, which is about 50 kilometers west of the Saskatchewan border.
“With any invasive species, the sooner you detect them, the more effective you can get rid of them.”
The problem with rats
Bryan Skinner’s family began his mixed grain and beef farm in 1950, the same year the Alberta Rats program began, near the town of Chauvin, about 10 kilometers west of the Saskatchewan border.
Without Alberta Rats Patrol program, rodents could cause a lot of damage to their farm, he said.
“Any time that a feed snow rat, obviously you can’t feed it with your cattle, so everything becomes waste,” he said.
It can spend 15 years between rats sightings on his farm, Skinner said.
Rats will chew the electrical wiring, causing damage to houses and other structures. They can also transport up to 50 different pathogens and parasites that can be passed to humans.
According to a study Published earlier this year in scientific advances, rats in the United States cause an estimate of $ 27 billion in annual damage to infrastructure, agricultural yields and contaminated food supplies.
While Alberta promotes himself as free of rats, he has a native rat: the tipted tail woodrat, which is also known as Packrat. It is located in the rocky mountains and the southern parts of the province.
Packrats can damage the buildings building stinky nests, said Wickerson, but they are not as worrisome as the invasive Norwegian rat.
The owners can choose to control packrats, but Norway’s rats must be controlled in accordance with Alberta’s laws.
It is illegal to keep pet rats in Alberta.
Active radio8:50Let’s look for rats
This is a great year for Alberta because we are one of the only places in the world without rats. And the program that helps keep them out is to turn 75 years. Our Harrap Liam went to the Rats patrol with the province last week and joins us now to explain.
The world is becoming
Today, Norway’s rats are found on all continents outside Antarctica.
TO Recent study Published in Science Advances, the populations of rats found are exploiting worldwide in cities like Washington, DC
The study found that climate change and a growing human population were behind the growing number of rats. Rats thrive in warmer conditions, the study said, while human populations mean more garbage and homes for rats to live.
The cities with less green spaces also saw a greater increase in rats.
In 2023, New York City designated a rat tsar to address the problem.
However, some places have managed to free themselves in recent years. In 2018, Georgia del Sur got rid of all his rats after having them for 250 years. It is known as the largest rodent eradication project.
The key to Alberta’s triumph was to get rid of rats when they arrived for the first time, Wickerson said.
“We cannot get small signs or rat fences on the border,” he said.
“The point is that when they enter, we do not let them establish.”
