The only place in the world that 'wipes out' mice

Except for Antarctica, which is too cold to breed, almost all the rest of the world are "occupied" by rats. Only one place has successfully repelled the "invasion" of mice.

It is the province of Alberta (Canada), 661,000 square kilometers, nearly double the area of ​​Vietnam and marginally more than France. In such a large area, the success of Alberta rat-killing campaign is remarkable.

Many Alberta people have never even seen mice in real life - (Image: GETTY IMAGES).

According to the BBC, in the 1950s, Norwegian rats began to invade Canada from the South. This species is inherently leading vitality, omnivorous and proliferate quickly, each litter a lot of children.

Many experts note that the mice 'teeth can chew on metal, in addition to being good at swimming.

Phil Merrill - head of the rat control program in Canada's Alberta province - said: when the news of rats entering the area began, the provincial government immediately decided it would be pushed back because it did not accept living. in common with rats.

Alberta has a smaller area than France - (Image: GUARDIAN)

First, the government determines the direction of the "enemy forces."

In terms of terrain, the western part of Alberta is bordered by the Rocky Mountains, the south is bordered by the rugged and sparsely populated Monata state (USA), so it cannot be a mouse route. Similarly, northern Alberta near the frigid Arctic is not the mouse's "invasion" direction.

Therefore, the east is the main direction the mouse enters Alberta. The government plans to block them in the eastern border, and carry out internal and external sweeping operations to be thoroughly effective.

Pest control teams were quickly set up, regularly "patrolling" suspected slum areas such as farms, landfills, and residential areas.

The rat poison is also distributed in many places by the authorities, in which the areas of high impact from mice are concentrated.

Poster calling for the rat extermination of the 1950s in Alberta - (Screenshot).

Communication and education are also focused. The government communicated in many ways to let people know that rats must be eliminated immediately. In addition, experts also train farmers, students and students about the difference between rats and native rodents.

By efforts through many periods, a positive signal has arrived. According to The Guardian , in the 1950s, about 500 locations across Alberta were destroyed by rats, by 1970 it was reduced to 50, in 1990 from 10-20, and by 2003 to almost zero.

Since then, mouse control has been maintained regularly. The detection teams are still allocated patrols throughout the province to timely prevent the risk of "invading" mice.

Even by 2015, a hotline for people to notify mice has been established.

According to Merrill, the spirit of helping people is very good. Although up to 95% of calls to detect rats are inaccurate, this is also good news as rats are very rare in Alberta.

Merrill continues his "hunting" mice - (Image: GUARDIAN).

"Once we heard the news, we had to scour a landfill for six days because we had news that a few rats were living here. We were lurking at night to catch them," Merrill said.

In terms of funding, rats control programs currently cost less than $ 380,000 per year, which is often used to pay salaries for staff in prevention teams and to buy rat poison.

"People still often join hands to kill rats and deal with dead rats. The information about rats is also constantly updated for the research team" - Merrill said.

Merrill adds that suspicions about rats are being updated regularly, while the group continues to hunt 3,000 farms along the eastern border to prevent them from afar.

"I used to think we would never get rid of mice, but the results were very surprising, currently only one to two mouse overflows are being sent across the border to Alberta each year, " Merrill said.

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