A US-financed project which is still in its early stages, will have rats
trained to detect tuberculosis in humans, and also turn their superior
noses to protecting other animals by finding illegal wildlife trophies
being smuggled out of African ports.
File photo: trained rat |
Africa’s giant rats have been trained to sniff out landmines and
detect tuberculosis in humans, and soon they could turn their superior
noses to protecting other animals by finding illegal wildlife trophies
being smuggled out of African ports.
Kirsty Brebner, whose organisation Endangered Wildlife Trust had
the idea of putting rats to work on the illegal wildlife trade,
disclosed this on Friday in Nairobi.
She said the U.S. financed project was still in its early stages,
but the rats that would be trained to scuttle over shipping containers
in search of pangolin scales were only born in October.
Brebner said the aim was to prove by late 2017, that their powerful
sense of smell could distinguish the illegally traded items, adding
that the items would be detected, even if they were stashed in coffee or
other scent-masking substances in containers before they were loaded
onto ships for export.
She firmly believe that we are going to be able to prove that they can. “They
are clearly trainable, they have a strong sense of smell, the eventual
aim is to train rats to find ivory and rhino horns too,’’ she said.
Brebner said the giant rats were chosen for the project for their
longevity because they live as long as eight years, adding that it would
give a better return on the training investment and they don’t bond
easily with handlers, so they would adapt to whoever uses them.
Brebner disclosed that the Endangered Wildlife Trust had long used
dogs to trace wildlife trophies, but rats could scramble into small,
dark places and could climb up containers.
The official said pangolins, a mammal hunted close to extinction
for the unique scales on its body, which find a ready market in Asia,
were the first target.
“The rats were tested and trained by APOPO, a Tanzanian-based
group that pioneered the use of the African Giant Pouched Rat to find
landmines.”
James Pursey, the Head of APOPO, said the rats would first be trained to sniff out a substance in return for a reward.
He said the rats would then be taught to discriminate pangolins from other smells, a process likely to last until mid-July.
“We will then be developing the optimal method for how to actually test the shipping containers,” he said.
Pursey said if they succeeded, the project could be rolled out from late 2017.
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