Beijing: China has started training squirrels to smell drugs. Squirrels are trained to detect the presence of drugs at railway stations, airports, warehouses and border check posts.
A squad of such squirrels is preparing to join the police force after training. The squirrels, known for their sense of smell, will join the narcotics department of the Chinese police force, The Independent reported.
The first such trained squirrels are deployed in Chongqing Municipality in southwest China. The Global Times reported that this was to check the presence of drugs in a building here.
Eurasian red squirrels are assigned to sniff out drugs. According to the report, the ability of such squirrels to detect drugs has been recognized by leading scientific research institutions.
“Squirrels have a good sense of smell. We lack the maturity to train rats for drug detection based on technologies,” said Yin Jin, head of the police dog brigade at the Hechuan Public Security Bureau in Chongqing, The Global Times reports.
Squirrels are also chosen to find drugs in small places that dogs can’t reach. Squirrels are also good at smelling drugs and related illicit substances in thick packets and the like.
Yin Jin told a local news agency that the squirrels had performed well in drug detection training. She also informed that it was decided to train the squirrels after many years of research.