Can rats help clear Africa's landmines?

[Elmore Furth]

Rats are cheaper than dogs and aren't distracted by extraneous metal when detecting mines. Thus, they are ideal in Africa where resources are scarce for mine clearing.



And if they can't find mines, they make good eating.

Bart Weetjens, a Flemish rodent enthusiast, realised that many African communities are too dependent on overseas foreign expertise to tackle many of the ordinary activities essential for their development, let alone clearing mines.

He believed he could train indigenous people to use a local resource, well suited for the job - African Pouched Rats. Like Pavlov's dogs, the rats are conditioned to associate a stimulus with food - only it's the smell of TNT, rather than the sound of a bell.

When we visited Bart and his team in Tanzania, where the rats are trained, it was all very light hearted and fun. The large, yet surprisingly cute rats climbed all over the camera crew. Now in Mozambique, the rats' nick name - Hero Rats - suddenly began to feel more appropriate and serious.

Rats, according to Apopo, are much faster than men using metal detectors and are not distracted by metal contaminants. They are much cheaper to maintain than dogs and are easily passed between different handlers.

Can rats help clear Africa's landmines?

[AsahinaKimi]

1. Why are they always Char broiled to a blackened crisp?

Its probably like eating Ashes.. Meh.. No thanks.

[petronius]

2. I don't know if it was linked in your story, but Frontline/World had a

nice episode on this a few years ago:

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/tanzania605/video_index.html

Some cool footage of the rats in action. From the tone, I suspect the trainer would be unamused by your shishkebab joke - he seems to have a near-unhealthy fascination with the little critters...

[av8rdave]

3. They can't. Let the Freepers do it and show us all how patriotic they are