Brown rats are what it takes to catch a killer, so say Dutch police who have recruited ten of the little guys to help forensic firearms experts.
With a highly developed sense of smell, rats are capable of sniffing out gunshot residue. They’re also much cheaper and even easier to train than dogs, according to force spokesman Ed Kraszewski.
“If we have a suspect, the forensic expert takes the residue from the hands and the rats can tell in a few seconds if it’s from a gun,” he told Reuters.
Rats are already used in parts of Africa to clear deadly landmines in significantly less time than humans can.
Image: Thinkstock
