Alberta's image as world's only rat-free region shattered by discovery of rat

Misleading headline.

Alberta is rat-free because its government has maintained an eradication program for three quarters of a century. That doesn't mean there are never rats in Alberta. It means that, when some show up, they're reported and destroyed. To date, the costs of maintaining the program have been smaller than the economic damage rats would otherwise inflict, so it has continued.

Bowden is nowhere near the border, so this is a little concerning. Hopefully it was just an isolated individual that made it in through a shipment.

The last four words seem like a surprising waste of headline space.

What else could shatter it?

The article lists climate change as the cause of the rise in rat populations in major cities but wouldn't cat neutering and spaying campaigns have a more direct impact? The huge reduction in feral cats over the last few decades seems a more likely direct cause, not just in how big the rat population is but also in the visibility of the rats in major cities. Rats don't have to hide as much if there are fewer cats around.

Australia’s Lord Howe Island has officially been the world’s largest inhabited island to eradicate feral rodents since July 2023:

  Two years should elapse before an island can declare itself ‘rodent free’, allowing for any survivors to breed up to a detectable level.

  So, in July 2023, the LHIB ‘Checkpoint’ program began its search for rodents.

  Over a two-week period, teams systematically surveyed the island’s Permanent Park Preserve and the settlement area. More than 950 detection device checks were undertaken including 140 tracking tunnels, 32 trail cameras, and 300 wax tags and chew cards, along with sweeps by detection dogs. The collected evidence, analysed by the Island Eradication Advisory Group from the New Zealand Department of Conservation, found no signs of rats or mice on the island.

  The island’s rodent population had – officially – been eradicated. 

~ https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/nature-wildlife/2026...

So when other life exists in areas with humans, humans seek to exterminate it? Sad and cruel state of affairs.