j_b Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=435153 Rats replace dogs to sniff out buried mines By Peter Fabricius 19 August 2003 In a field about 40 miles west of the town of Chokwe on the Limpopo river in Mozambique, a large rat scurries along the ground, its nose and whiskers twitching. It stops, sniffs excitedly and then scratches at the ground. The rat is wearing a harness and leash. Its handler, clad in bomb-proof gear, pulls it over to the side and rewards it with a piece of banana. Another person in a protective outfit goes over to where the rat stopped and scratched and carefully digs up an anti-personnel mine. The animal is an African pouched rat 2ft 6in (75cm) long. It is the latest weapon to neutralise the millions of unexploded landmines across Africa and the rest of the world. They have killed or maimed thousands, especially in Mozambique with an estimated 500,000 buried mines and in Angola with millions more. Frank Weetjens, a Belgian who is in charge of the experiment near Chokwe, says the rats are better than dogs at sniffing out mines. They are cheaper, smaller, more port-able, harder-working and, at 3lb (1.35kg), light enough not to detonate a landmine when they walk over one, he believes. Mr Weetjens and his team from the NGO Apopo have only been experimenting with defused mines. But he is encouraging about his rat sappers. The rats are harder-working than dogs, he says, because they do not get bored so quickly with the repetitive tasks required of them; they seem to enjoy the work, so long as they are rewarded with food every time. Apopo (the Flemish acronym for anti-personnel mine product development) has been doing its main research at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania for five years. There it has been training about 300 African pouch rats and several handlers. Mr Weetjens and his team brought 12 rats and four trainers to Mozambique in March to start the test programme under field conditions. The tests are far from over, but the team is keen to move on to real demining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Just swap a vowel around and Mr. Weetjens becomes Mr. Wetjeens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 "Peter Fabricius" is a fairly amusing name too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 "Peter Febreezius"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 "apopo" what happens if the rats start digging up and eating corpses instead of finding mines and thenm get a taste for human flesh and start leading the defusers onto active land mines so they will get fresh ground human flesh to feast on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 and then they start building WMD's a bigger threat is muslim infiltration to american pop culture: in related headlines: "Bush: I never trusted them Pez dispensers. They be dispensers of EVIL distributamatized by the EVIL doers. They are not friends of peace. I am a friend of peace. Peace is my friend and I am peaceful" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 What are they waiting for? It's time to put those rats to work on the real thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 "Lets Roll!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figger_Eight Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 I would guess they make less of a mess if one of them land mines blows them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWolfe Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 those pouched rats are the same ones what gave monkeypox to prarie dogs to humans a few months back damn snaffle conspiracy!!!! revenge for being the avalanche poodle of the munitions world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr._Natural Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Dru said:those pouched rats are the same ones what gave monkeypox to prarie dogs to humans a few months back damn snaffle conspiracy!!!! revenge for being the avalanche poodle of the munitions world. brings back fond memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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