Being Nosy: How squirrels are China’s newest weapons against drugs

Move aside sniffer dogs. There’s a new way to sniff out drugs. The newest members of an anti-drug police squad are small, agile and quick. And they are… squirrels. This is no joke, but real. In southwestern China’s Chongqing city, six Eurasian red squirrels have been trained to sniff out drugs, as part of a national initiative to test the use of animals other than dogs in drug-busting operations. This is the first time that squirrels have been used to find narcotics and we sniff out the full story for you. China’s new narcotic division In an attempt to keep China drug-free, the city of Chongqing has trained six Eurasian red squirrels to sniff out narcotics. These six rodents will join the existing police dog brigade that sniffs out drugs in the nooks and crannies of warehouses and storage units. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official publication, the People’s Daily, released a video of the squirrels sniffing various surfaces and darting between obstacles during lab tests, which went viral on Chinese micro-blogging website Weibo.

According to Shine.cn, the project is the culmination of years of research. In fact, Yin Jin, a police dog trainer and the man who has trained the squirrels, was invited by the country’s research and development team back in 2018 to come up with new sniffer animals’ training methods. Yin added that the squirrels will intimate the trainer of the presence of narcotics by scratching them. But why squirrels? According to Yin, they chose squirrels for the anti-drug squad as they have an acute sense of smell. “These squirrels have an acute sense of smell. But in the past, our training problems for small rodents was not developed enough to attempt a program like this,” said Jin to The Paper. Additionally, squirrels are small and hence, better able to pass through nooks and crannies in compact spaces and to sniff out drugs hidden inside tightly packaged parcels. For those who don’t know, squirrels have an exceptionally good sense of smell. It is this feature that help them to locate their food. Their sense of smell is so strong that it allows them to even sniff out nuts and other foods they may have buried months before, even under a foot of snow. Experts have said that a male squirrel can actually smell a female in heat, from up to a mile away. Their size is also beneficial when it comes to sniffing drugs out. The Eurasian red squirrel grows to about eight inches (21 cm) long and weigh about 330 gm. This helps them to move into small uncomfortable spaces where dogs won’t be able to reach. They also have a life expectancy of seven years in the wild and 10 in captivity. These squirrels are also freely available across Europe and are listed as being of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. China’s drug trade Officials hope that the squirrels will aid in China’s battle against narcotics. The Asian giant has China has strict anti-drug laws that are informed by its experience during the Opium Wars. Individuals convicted of drug crimes often face severe punishments, including death. According to China’s Narcotics Control Commission, the country saw 41,000 drug smuggling, trafficking, and transportation cases solved nationwide, with 60,000 offenders arrested and 21.4 tons of drugs seized in 2021. Officials added that trafficking through postal and waterway channels increased. In 2021, 3,741 drug trafficking cases by mail and 18 cases by water were solved. This is where sniffer dogs and the sniffer squirrels will come in. They sniff the packages to ensure that no drugs are present in the parcels. [caption id=“attachment_12147582” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] In Rotterdam, rats were trained to sniff out drugs. Previously rats have been used to sniff explosives. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay[/caption] Squirrels not the only ones While this is the first time that squirrels are being used to sniff out drugs, they aren’t the only ones. Besides dogs, countries have experimented with different animals in their fight against narcotics. Back in 1993, the US had used pigs to sniff out drugs. In 2015, researchers at the University of Cologne had trained honey bees to tell the difference between heroin and cocaine. They had claimed the insects could eventually replace sniffer-dogs at airports. In Sri Lanka, the authorities groomed mongoose to replace dogs to sniff out contraband drugs. As recently as 2013, the police in Rotterdam ¬— the second-largest city in the Netherlands — had trained rats to sniff out drugs. According to Monique Hamerslag, the lead on the project, rats are able to identify certain smells and are also quick learners. “They need barely 10 to 15 days to learn to distinguish a certain smell,” she was quoted as telling AFP. We can’t wait to see the squirrels in action, but as Yin explained it may yet be a while until the squirrels are actually utilised in any drug-busting operations. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.