Rats in Calgary

I've got a bit of a stomache ache today... I went to bed at about 2am last night and it was feeling a little bit woozy but I figured that it would pass if I went to bed... but when I woke up this morning it felt a little bit worse. I took an extra hour this morning and lounged around on the couch and once I felt a little bit better headed into work where I am now.

My schedule is getting quite a bit busier than it has been and I am finding that I have more time to update my post at work than I do at home... but I like doing it at home since I cannot really upload pictures at work (I cannot download Hello!).

So today I learned that it is illegal to own a rat in Alberta... under the Alberta Agricultural Pest Act, it is illegal to possess a rat unless it is dead and frozen. It is illegal to breed rats, with fines running as high as $5,000 or 60 days in jail.

To top that off I guess it is an important law to have as well... and someone here in Calgary in the neighborhood of Acadia broke this law, had a rat, and freed the rat in the neighborhood.

The story goes that Warren Cucheran discovered the first rodent as it scurried across his front porch a week ago Sunday. The next night, Cucheran and neighbours found a nest of 24 rats in a lilac bush in one of their yards. Cucheran along with his friends clobbered the rodents with a broom, spade and whatever other tools they had on hand. I guess a pair of Norway rats could produce 15,000 offspring in a year so I am pretty glad that they found the rodents and "exterminated" them.

My cats would have been happy, but I sure don't want any huge Norweigan rats running across my back yard!