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Secret Life of Canada

Crash Course on Rat-berta

Is it true that Alberta is a rat-free province? Is there really a Rat Patrol? We find out the truth behind the province’s rat hating reputation.

How did a landlocked province eliminate all its rats? And why?

CBC Podcasts · Posted: Mar 30, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: March 30

A rat runs across a sidewalk in the snow. — A rat runs across a slick sidewalk in Manhattan, New York — a sight you would probably not see in Alberta. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Is it true that Alberta is a rat-free province? Is there really a Rat Patrol? We find out the truth behind the province's rat hating reputation.

Poster released by the Alberta Department of Public Health circa 1948 (A17202b/ Provincial Archives of Alberta) (Provincial Archives of Alberta)

Key References

Alberta's Rat Control Program Government of Alberta
The Norway Rat Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute
Rats in Alberta: Looking at Pest-Control Posters from the 1950s Lianne McTavish and Jingjing Zheng. Canadian Historical Review
Oh, Rats! Heather Cleland,The Walrus
You Can't Ignore the Rat': Nonhuman Animals in Boundary Work Andrew McCumber Cultural Sociology

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