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May 18, 2007 7:29 AM

Sniff Sniff Sniff.The scourge of medieval Europe and New York City subways lends a helping nose in the fight against land mines.
posted by Stynxno (11 comments total)

via veronitron
posted by Stynxno at 7:30 AM on May 18, 2007

Rat's have never bothered me. As long as their not in my immediate presence. good to see they're being put to good use.
posted by 2shay at 7:41 AM on May 18, 2007

Very cool. BTW I believe the scourge rats are Norwegian rats, not these African rats you link to.
posted by exogenous at 7:52 AM on May 18, 2007

i know. i was just being melodramatic.
posted by Stynxno at 8:11 AM on May 18, 2007

Amazing. wow, Getting the help of rats. Whoda thunk? They're smart little rascals, it makes sense. It's a cute site too, I guess to get kids interested in this particular aspect of war.

Reminds me of the 1972 movie about a rat, Ben.

Training rats to help seems an important innovation in dealing with the scourge of land mines.
posted by nickyskye at 8:34 AM on May 18, 2007

Before clicking the link, I imagined they were loosing an army of rats onto a minefield to detonate any mines. Then I wondered if they'd be heavy enough to trip them. Then I wondered what PETA was going to say about this. Then I clicked the link.

I suppose this makes more sense, though I feel slightly cheated. Cool story, thanks.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 8:46 AM on May 18, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Some Youtube vids on the subject:

-Video from Mozambique training center
-Pet Giant Gambian Rat - Toilet Trained
-"Chubby Bunny," Rat Style
posted by uri at 9:54 AM on May 18, 2007

Almost 20k killed by mines every year? That totally sucks. I had no idea mines were still so prevalent. Good for the rats.
posted by BostonJake at 11:36 AM on May 18, 2007

Amazing Race had the racers complete a road block challenge that had rats sniffing out land mines. The rats and their little harneses was adorable.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 1:00 PM on May 18, 2007

Oh! Cute little rats!
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:27 PM on May 18, 2007

I can only assume Alberta must use some other method of mine-sweeping.
posted by tim_in_oz at 11:37 PM on May 18, 2007