Rat Ban Eyed

REGINA - After nearly 50 years of being a rodent refuge next door to rat-free Alberta, Saskatchewan is considering a ban on allowing people to breed the destructive varmints as pets or as food for reptiles.

The province's current Pest Control Act defines rats as pests, but doesn't really do anything to prevent people from owning them, said Scott Hartley, a pest management specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture.

Rats are not native to the Prairies, but have been around since the Second World War.

The reasoning behind banning rats as pets in Saskatchewan is that it will cut off one of the ways they are introduced into the environment.

The Saskatchewan government is currently considering a ban on pet rats - as Alberta already has in place. We are in desperate need of letters, from all over the world, supporting our right to keep fancy rats as pets. Please keep your letters from being emotionally charged, level-headed, fact based letters will have the most effect. Feel free to include pictures, personal stories, studies done on the survival rates of domestic rats in the wild, anything that will help convince our government that pet rats are not a threat to farmers.

Thank you so much for your help and support. As a breeder and lover of fancy rats it breaks my heart to think that my little ones may be ripped from my arms and life forever.

See the following website for the list of addresses we need you to contact:
http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/members/members.htm