The hunt is on after a dead rat was found in the garage of a Calgary home this weekend.
According to CBC Calgary, a rat was found in the neighbourhood of New Brighton over the weekend, prompting provincial pest control specialists to scour the area in case they find others.
Calgary Animal and Bylaw Services picked up the rat Friday night, reports Sun News.
It is not clear at this point where the rat came from, Animal and Bylaw Services operation manager Doug Frizell told Sun News, adding it is the only sighting of a rodent in the area.
"We haven't seen any other evidence of anything else, but we'll certainly keep an eye on the area and then if there are any other calls we'll respond accordingly," Frizzell said.
Provincial Rat and Pest Specialist Phil Merrill speculated to the CBC that the rat found in the southeast neighbourhood was a roof rat.
"If it is a roof rat and that's what I really think it is, it's likely to have hitchhiked in on some transportation means and found it's way to this chap's place," he said.
"It's not uncommon that we would get a single rat within the province somewhere that jumped off a truck or came in on a recreational vehicle or came on a train or whatever."
Bylaw officials later confirmed it was a roof rat.
Despite Alberta's claim to be rat-free since the 1950s, Calgary bylaw services say they have received over 500 calls regarding the rodents in the past year.
The rat-free status was further jeopardized last year when a nest of the vermin were found in a Medicine Hat landfill. It took several weeks to exterminate more than 150 rats.
However, according to Merrill, Alberta remains "as rat free now as we have ever been."
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