Landmines to be sniffed out? Enter the rat pack

Highly trained sniffer rats could become the latest weapon against landmines after one was taught to smell out explosive devices.Staff at porfell Wildlife park and sanctuary near Liskead, Cornwall, have been teaching Gambjan poached rat kofi to alert handlers when he detects a mine. Kofi is too alert handlers when he detects a mine. Kofi is too small to set off the booby-traps but his acute sense of smell can pick up the scent of the bomb casing.Rats have been trained in Africa to hunt for land mines but kofi is the first to undergo the programme in Britain. Handler Wendy Winstanley now plans to contact the Army and the police anti terror unit to offer her rats services for use both home and abroad.The bomb sniffing training process begins when rats are five weeks old and are weaned from their mothers. Trainers begin socialising the young rats to the sights, sounds, and textures of the world by walking them on wet grass, going for a ride in a lorry and interacting with humans. Then the sniffer rats are taught to recognize the smell of metal land mine casings in return for a food reward. Thirty sniffer rats are already being used in Mozambique, Africa and have proved incredibly successful for the detection and removal of land mined. The rodents are fitted to a leash before scrambling their way over a piece of ground, sniffing out any explosives.

The New Indian Express, 31st march 2009