By 1952, rats were active along 270 km of the border. In the fall of 1951, 30 rat infestations had been confirmed along 180 km of Alberta's eastern border. Warfarin, the first anticoagulant rodent poison, was still a new and relatively untried toxicant in 1951. ![]() Recommended toxicants were red squill, antu, barium carbonate, zinc phosphide, 1080, thallium sulfate, arsenic, strychnine alkaloid and warfarin. The rat control pamphlet advocated the destruction of rats, the elimination of rat harborages and food supplies, and the rat-proofing of buildings – principles which are still valid and basic for rat control today. An amendment to the Act in 1950 further required that every municipality appoint a pest control inspector. That legislation became effective when rats were declared a pest in 1950. In this way, legislation that mandated control of pests by every person and at every level of government was in place before rats ever entered Alberta. Where pest control was not considered adequate, the provincial government could carry out the necessary measures and charge the costs to the landowner or municipality. The act further stipulated that every person and municipality had to destroy and prevent the establishment of provincially designated pests. The Agricultural Pests Act of Alberta (1942) authorized the Minister of Agriculture to designate as a pest any animal that was likely to destroy crops or livestock. ![]() Responsibility for rat control was transferred from the Alberta Department of Health to the Department of Agriculture. Consequently, the Alberta government decided to halt, or at least slow, the spread of rats into Alberta In 1950. The discovery was made by field crews from Alberta Department of Health who were engaged in studies of sylvatic plague, a disease of Richardson's ground squirrel.Īlthough aware of the economic destruction caused by rats, provincial authorities were initially concerned that rats might spread plague throughout Alberta. ![]() Norway rats were first discovered on a farm in Alberta near Alsask, on the eastern border, during the summer of 1950.
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