In China, dogs lose their drugs sniffing jobs to squirrels trained for the task

Squirrels have been trained in China to detectthe presence of drugs at train stations, airports, warehouses, and border checkpoints.The police in the southwest city of Chongqing, over 1700 km southwest of the Chinese capital Beijing,say that they have trained the country’s first batch of six sniffer squirrels in an attempt to find a more feasiblereplacement for sniffer dogs.

"Squirrels have a quite acute sense of smell, but we didn’t have sniffer squirrels in the past because we didn’t have mature techniques to train rodents,” Yin Jin, a trainer of the local squad of police dogs, told a state-run news platformShangyou News. He said that the authorities used the same training system they use to train sniffer dogs for similar operations.

Squirrels to replace dogs? But aren't dogs better at sniffing?

Dogs are considered conventionally better at sniffing than other animals, even rodents. But rodents such as squirrels are good at sniffing out drugs and related illicit substances with "complex environments" full of packages and tight corners, and they can reach spots that are high up, which the dogs cannot.

How will squirrels notify that drugs have been found?

Once a squirrelfinds the suspect drugs, a trained squirrel will notify its trainer by scratching anobject, Chinese anti-drugs police spokesperson said.

It is not the first time authorities have tried to find an alternative to sniffer dogs. Police in the Netherlands in 2013 trained rats to sniff out drugs and gunpowder with a success rate of 95 per cent. In 1993 in America, the Department of Justice put on trial theuse of pot-bellied pigs to sniff out narcotics.

China's anti-drugs campaign

China has a zero-tolerance policy on illicit drugs. Individuals convicted of drug crimes often face severe punishments, including death.

The country reportedly had nearly 1.5 million drug users at the end of 2021. China in 2021 solved more than 54,000 drug cases, arrested 77,000 suspects and seized 27 tonnes of drugs, according to the latest report on anti-drug efforts cited by The Times newspaper.