Alberta’s rat patrol takes care of business
By Janet Kanters, Editor
Alberta is extremely fortunate not to have rats in the province. This situation is not by chance, but by design. Since 1950, Alberta has had a program to keep rats out of the province.
Now, recent improvements to Alberta’s Rat Control program has resulted in maintaining the province’s rat-free status.
“Increased lines of communication and advanced technology mean better response times to reported rat sightings and improvements in keeping Alberta rat free,” said Karen Wickerson, rat and pest program specialist at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “Along with the rat control team, we have made some enhancements to Alberta’s rat control program.”
A dedicated email address (rats@gov.ab.ca) to report rat sightings and a live cam are two tools the team has added to a program.
“With the new email address, specialists are more likely to receive an immediate visual along with location information and the team’s response time is much better,” noted Wickerson. “The email has been well received and may be one of the main factors responsible for doubling the number of rat sightings reported last year. Luckily, the increase in sightings does not mean there is an increase in rat presence or infestations.”
Many people know Alberta is rat free and are eager to report sightings, but with limited exposure to rats in the province, many Albertans do not know what rats actually look like. About half of the reported sightings last year turned out to be muskrats.
Rats enter the province by overland migration along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, or by stowing away on planes, trains and automobiles. All rat sightings are investigated thoroughly.
The rat control team is working towards broader use of the live cam in their work. Its increased use will provide long term benefits as the live cam can be moved to places where rats are suspected or known, providing increased flexibility.
“The live cam allows us to watch, trap and bait areas to see the rodents’ patterns, in terms of movement and what is working well for getting rid of them,” said Wickerson. “If we can use live cams at more sites, our understanding of their patterns becomes even greater, and we can continue to make improvements to the bait and traps we use.”
As the team collects more data on rats found in Alberta, mapping out where they are found and recording their specific species, it is expected to lead to further advances in rat control for the province.