Rats taking marijuana, cocaine and other narcotics

Rat ate evidence

Police suspect rodents are the culprit

Police suspect rodents at fault

NORTH PORT -- Marijuana, cocaine and narcotics began disappearing from the evidence room, and police say they've found the culprit -- rats.

About a month ago, North Port Police Department evidence and property technician Pamela Schmidt picked up a bag and noticed that it looked like it had been chewed through, said Capt. Robert Estrada.

...dude theres some rats out there that would have a serious case of munchies....

Sun Herald - 01/13/06

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Rats Smell in Stereo

By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News

Rats need only one sniff to take their bearings on a tasty morsel, say researchers who have discovered what may be the olfactory equivalent to stereo hearing in the common rodents.

It turns out that rats use their two nostrils with what appears to be far more efficiency than humans do, and may be a lot like some other scent-oriented animals.

In just 50 milliseconds rats can not only identify an odor, but can tell in which nostril an odor is stronger and then head for it.

"Rats are smart and great at odor-related tasks, so they were a good system to get at the question in detail," said olfactory researcher Upinder Bhalla of the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. Bhalla, Raghav Rajan and J.P Clement published their findings in the Feb. 3 issue of the journal Science.

Can Smell, One Nostril at a Time

...I like small speakers, I like tall speakers, smell that odor....

Discovery Channel :: News :: Rats Smell in Stereo

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Rats trained to find landmines in Columbia

BOGOTA, Colombia - Watch out Fido, your days on the force may be numbered. Police in Colombia are training Lola and Espejo, two whiskered, red-eyed rats, to sniff out bombs and land mines.ADVERTISEMENTclick here

The rodents are part of an experimental six-rat squadron that police are preparing for dangerous missions to defuse the more than 100,000 land mines that litter Colombia's countryside after four decades of war between the government and leftist rebels.

Unlike dogs, rats weighing less than half a pound each and "don't trigger any explosions when they walk on a mine," said Col. Javier Cifuentes, director of the Sibate police academy, where basic training is taking place.

...it's not "unleash the hounds", its now "unleash the rats"...

Newsvine - Rats trained to find mines in Columbia

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