Wildlife traffickers are being “ratted out”

Cat-sized rodents, known as “HeroRATs” are sniffing out trafficked wildlife because they’re “cheaper” than sniffer dogs.

Led by the Belgian organisation, Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development (APOPO), rats have demonstrated their ability to sniff out landmines, tuberculosis, and even survivors in natural disaster zones. Now, APOPO is using their incredible sense of smell to target the global illegal wildlife trade.

A $23 billion industry is being sniffed out by giant rats

According to a report by CNN, illegal wildlife trafficking is worth up to $23 billion per year. It is the fourth largest illicit trade globally, trailing counterfeit goods, drugs and human trafficking.

Crawford Allan, vice president of nature crimes and policy advocacy at WWF US, explains, “Wildlife is deemed to be a low-risk commodity. Unfortunately, organised crime knows there’s a real weak spot in detection methods of ports, seaports, and airports, particularly in Africa.” This weak spot allows traffickers to disguise wildlife products in creative ways – like coating ivory pieces in chocolate to evade inspections.

HeroRATs and their crime-busting techniques

This is where the HeroRATs come in. New research led by APOPO has shown that these rats can be trained to detect trafficked wildlife products such as elephant tusks and rhino horns. Dr. Izzy Szott, the behavioural research scientist leading the project, believes rats can be used as a complementary tool to sniffer dogs. “Dogs are amazing. If you are looking at tracking through the Serengeti, you’re not going to use a rat for that,” says Szott. However, due to their size and agility, rats have the advantage in tightly packed environments, such as shipping containers.

Unlike dogs, these rats are willing to work with multiple handlers and are considerably cheaper to train, maintain, and transport.

According to Kate Webb, assistant professor at Duke University and one of the study’s lead authors, one of the major advantages of using these rats is their relatively short training time. “There has also been interest in wildlife detection rats from Singapore and France,” she told CNN.

During a study last year, APOPO reported that rats successfully found over 83 per cent of the planted wildlife targets, even when they were concealed using scent-masking agents.

Once a rat identifies a target, it alerts its handler by using its front paws to pull a ball attached to a custom-made neoprene vest, triggering a beeping sound.

These trained rodents could potentially revolutionise how authorities detect illegal products at airports.

For those who are interested, you can even adopt a HeroRAT.

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