Not much muskrat love in rural Saskatchewan

Rural leaders are gathering in Saskatoon this week and one of the hot topics is muskrats.

Muskrats love the water and after a rainy spring with flooding in much of the eastern part of the province, there's been a rise in their numbers.

Some members of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities say the rodents cause significant damageto municipal roads, dikes and other infrastructure.

They want the province to develop a muskrat control strategy before things get any worse. That resolutionpassed.

Another group of rural leaders from the RM of Duck Lake want to see muskrats declared as pests in provincial legislation so people can eliminate them like rats or other vermin. That resolution did not pass.

The two resolutions wereamong a long list of issues SARM members are dealing with at their mid-term meeting in Saskatoon, which ends today.

Also on the agenda wereresolutions on municipal pensions, grain bags, clubroot control, stray animals, plastic grocery bags and pocket gophers.