Colombian police train rats to sniff out landmines (Reuters) Updated: 2006-05-11 11:41

Runcho sniffs the mouth of a police animal trainer at a police school in
Sibate, Colombia May 3, 2006. Colombian police are training white-furred,
pink-eyed rats to locate landmines in Colombia. Police animal trainers, tired of
seeing their explosive-sniffing dogs blown up by stepping on mines, hope the
white-furred, pink-eyed creature will make it through upcoming open field tests
and then into the Andean country's live mine fields before the end of the year.
Picture taken May 3, 2006. To match feature Colombia-Rats. [Reuters]
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