Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 04:00
Trial police with sniffer rats
The police are going to use rats to aid in investigating shootings. In this test, a dozen so-called sniffer rats will search suspects for gunshot residue.
In Africa rats already aid in the search for landmines. The advantage is that the sniffer rats are easy to train. They are also cheap and easy to keep up.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"25941","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-medium wp-image-5711","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"159","alt":"Rat siamese"}}]] Rat Siamese
tinneke
Wikimedia commons Rats can also smell better than dogs. However, they only live a few years, but they complete their training in a few months. Dog training takes years. The Rotterdam police did some preliminary testing with the sniffer rats in a dedicated space. The results were very positive and the Rotterdam police is now performing the test in practice.
![[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"25941","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-medium wp-image-5711","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"159","alt":"Rat siamese"}}]]](/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/rats_1.jpg){kind=link}
tinneke
Wikimedia commons Rats can also smell better than dogs. However, they only live a few years, but they complete their training in a few months. Dog training takes years. The Rotterdam police did some preliminary testing with the sniffer rats in a dedicated space. The results were very positive and the Rotterdam police is now performing the test in practice.