Inglewood residents unfazed by rumoured rat sighting as province monitors

Do you smell a rat? Residents in Inglewood say they haven’t seen any amid recent reports of a sighting in the southeast Calgary neighbourhood.

The province has since laid out rat traps after being alerted to a video of a rat falling from an overhead garage in the community and the scurrying off into an alley.

Residents in the area tell CityNews they’ve seen no sign of the rodent.

“No, I haven’t really seen much in the area at all really, and I walk down here mostly every day,” says one resident.

Alberta has a rat control program that was established in 1950. It aims to keep the province rat free, but they add that small infestations occasionally occur.

In those instances, rats are isolated and eradicated through proven control methods, much like the traps that have been setup in Inglewood.

“I can’t say I’ve seen any rats,” a local business owner says. “I have seen more skunks than anything.”

In a statement to CityNews, the province’s ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation says they are working to keep people in the community educated in an effort to locate the potential pests.

“Both the City of Calgary and our team have attended the site and provided nearby residents with educational information to help track where the rat may have gone,” reads the statement.

The province adds it is illegal to own a pet rate in Alberta.

Any Albertan who spots a rate is asked to take a picture of it, note the location, and then contact at rats@gov.ab.ca, or by phone at 310-FARM. More information can be found here.