Around the world, rats and city life very much go hand in hand, but a map of rat numbers has gone viral for one location with a suspicious absence of the pests.
The map, which was ironically shared by the Twitter account @TerribleMaps, purports to illustrate the locations of rat homes around the globe. Although there isn’t much information available, most people seemed to notice very away that Alberta, a province in Canada, was the only one devoid of rats.
There are a lot of rats all around Canada, according to a recent survey of the “rattiest cities,” and while Calgary and Edmonton made a list, it was stressed that it was only for mice.
The fact that the province is rat-free, however, is due to a protracted history of rat control on Alberta’s border with Saskatchewan.
The Alberta government claims that a 600-kilometer-long “Rat Control Zone” was established with towns in charge of preventing the spread of rats along the border from Cold Lake to the Montana border. Buildings were rat-proofed, and any infestations discovered in Alberta were eradicated. Bait stations were set up to trap the animals.
At the same time, a public awareness campaign was launched to inform people living near the eastern border of what to do if they observe signs of rat activity. Any property owners who disregarded the laws governing rodent control risked receiving formal warnings or perhaps going to court.
Since then, safeguards have remained in place along the border, and inspectors for pest management are still employed to control rats entering from the other side.
Also prohibited in Alberta is keeping a pet rat. Zoos, colleges, universities, and some research facilities are permitted to keep white rats, but that is it.
If you have a rat phobia, Alberta may be the greatest place for you as neither Calgary nor Edmonton is likely to have scenes of hordes of rats running amok around the city like Vancouver or Toronto do.
