Thread: Help Stop 1080, please sign

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Mr Browning, Mr Bing is referencing the Alberta Rat Line. I have approach DOC here - normal drill visit the Minister explain how it works etc - result zero interest from DOC.

The Rat Line is a wide area kept clear of vegetation with bait stations randomly scattered like land mines across it. Rats hate crossing open ground and will run from one bait station to the next, stopping to take advantage of the handily placed refreshments. I never saw any evidence of rats around grain stores, Barley silage or feedlots when I worked in Alberta.

Rats in Canada -
Norway rats are unique because they must live with people or their structures. They cannot survive in natural areas and cannot overwinter in cultivated fields in Canada. Norway rats are not native to North America but were introduced to the east coast about 1775 and gradually spread westward over most of the continent. Norway rats spread westward as North America became settled, as farms became closer together and as cultivated land began to dominate the landscape.
Rats entered eastern Saskatchewan in the 1920s and extended their range to the northwest at about 24 km (15 mi) per year (Figure 1). Rats were first reported on the eastern border of Alberta in 1950, and would have continued to spread westward had it not been for a rat control program that halted their advance and continues to maintain an essentially rat-free province to date.

Alberta successfully operate a rat control zone in Eastern Alberta - to stop the invasion of rats from their Eastern neighbouring State of Saskatchewan - The control zone is 600km long and 29km wide - the people of Alberta are extremely fortunate not to have rats. This is not by chance but by design. For the past four decades, Alberta has had a program to keep rats out of the province. This publication describes the evolution, history and current status of the rat control program in Alberta, and discusses factors which contributed to its success -
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex3441#government
Winter in Alberta is characterized by several months of continuous snow cover and below-freezing temperatures. Overwinter infestations are limited to man-made structures; severe climate prevents colonies from overwintering in open fields where they would probably go undetected.
This is an amazing example of people power and what can be achieved if people get focused on controlling a pest