Victorians would fare well in a zombie apocalypse because of our superior fitness levels and preference for cremating our dead, according to a map created by a U.S. real estate search firm.
“A common conversation here in Seattle, with Trump and everything that’s going on, is definitely: ‘Should I move to Canada?’ ” said Ryan Nickum, head blogger at Estately, which allows users to search multiple-listing services across the U.S.
“But there are some things to consider.”
Nickum said his firm often researches quirky demographics about areas. “They can say a lot about a place,” he said.
These have included America’s worst and best cities for doughnuts (Colorado Springs and Boston, respectively), what each state Googles more than others (Montana’s result: “How do I move to Canada?”) and every state, province and territory ranked by the number of Justin Bieber fans (West Virginia and Nunavut topped the charts, while Washington and British Columbia have the fewest Beliebers).
Nickum said Estately chose to look at zombie-apocalypse survival because the reanimated corpses are riding a pop culture trend with shows such as the Walking Dead and zombie versions of classic literature.
“I find it curious but there seems to be a strange human impulse to maintain that fight or flight survival thing. Being into zombies is a non-threatening way to live that out,” he said.
In Canada, Yukon was deemed the place most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse due to its smaller population, large number of people with gun licences, high levels of physical activity (second to B.C.) and keen interest in zombies.
Prince Edward Island, on the other hand, is poised to be the country’s zombie breeding ground thanks to its dense population, few guns and low physical activity.
British Columbia falls somewhere in the middle, a lack of firearms and low interest in zombies being the weak spots.
Luckily, Victorians are a little more prepared than the rest. In March, the Royal B.C. Museum offered a course called Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: Tools. And in 2012, the provincial government offered a Zombie Awareness Week campaign to prepare British Columbians for major emergencies.
According to a similar “study” in the U.S., Alaska and the majority of states that border Canada were the top places to survive a zombie takeover, Nickum said.
The best strategy for survival in an apocalypse of the undead, he said, is to “go north. Go to Canada.”
