Rats! Is that a shudder? Must be the tails that do it, all naked and pink, with the odd stiff hair. Hardly cute and cuddly.
We spotted them here, so down went the poison. Shoved it into their holes. It makes them a bit drunk and they loved it. Got all sloshed and strolled about. That's when you think:"Aah, look at those lovely, shiny black eyes!" Have to admit a bit of a pang there.
Now the latest is they are saving lives sniffing out explosives. "Detection is the most difficult, dangerous and expensive part of mine action," says Bart Weetjens of the Belgian aid organisation Apopo. " Rats are much more difficult to train than dogs but so far they have helped re-open two million square miles of Mozambique." The rodents get a bit of food as a reward for finding TNT.
Granted these are giant pouched rats, so well up for it, but two million square miles! Respect.
No comments:
Post a Comment