Peace officer Todd Kabeya displays a dead rat that was found in Calgary on Friday. (CBC)

City officials have found a dead rat in south Calgary.

It's the second time this month that rats have been found in "rat free" Alberta.

That claim was challenged when news broke Wednesday that dozens of rats were found in and around the Medicine Hat landfill.

On Friday, a dead Norway rat was found in the southeast community of Auburn Bay early Friday.

Animal and bylaw services suspect the rat escaped from a home, but are still trying to confirm it was a pet.

Greg Steinrath, acting director of Calgary's city's animal and bylaw services, says the city is taking the find very seriously.

“We have not had a large number of calls, but we did want to let the media know, that if you do see it, because it is such a priority, because rats can have such a pervasive damage in regards to infrasctrucre, we wanted to let Calgarians know.”

Steinrath says though the city is taking the discovery of the rat seriously, it's not unusual as the city gets reports of four to six dead rats every year.

He says crews are still searching the Auburn area and that there's no sign of any other rats.

Since the 1950s, Alberta has boasted about being rat-free, using an aggressive rat control program to keep the vermin outside of its borders.