[soperj]

Should be possible for saskatchewan to do the same then. No reason BC can't either since they've got the rockies, and an ocean.

[morbicer]

Ocean is not a win. It means large sea ports and hence an influx of new rats.

[bryanlarsen]

It's not the 18th century where rats traveled along guy ropes on to shore. Rats will travel in containers, but that's a problem for where the containers are opened as much as it is for the ports.

[dghlsakjg]

Rats still very much travel along mooring lines to and from ships.

If you go look at any modern port you will see that the ships have large discs on any line going to shore.

That disc is an anti rat measure. At least one ship I worked on got rats, and we had to deal with them before we left port. Other ships certainly wouldn’t go through the effort.

[StayTrue]

For sure. In my experience there are two places I can go in Victoria and be guaranteed to find rats—one is the harbour.

[stackghost]

They say in Vancouver you're never more than 20 feet from a rat, anywhere you go. Probably true throughout most PNW cities.

[dehugger]

I've lived in Bellingham (40 minutes south of Vancouver) for over ten years and have literally never seen a rat.

Am I A) blind, B) something about the city here prevents rats from settling, or secret option C) something else entirely?

[id34]

I believe, as the parent comment alluded to, the rat patrol has established a substantial beachhead into SK. The front lines are now outside the province and pushing east.

I've wondered about BC though - outside the density of the lower mainland anyways.