Rescue Rats Help Buried Earthquake Survivors

[Tobi]

Seven rats have been trained to reach survivors buried under rubble after earthquakes. They carry backpacks with microphones, which help the survivors communicate with ground teams.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/re...b5f86673b2

Rats are perfect fot this work, as they can get through the tiniest spaces. Bless their little Souls!

[Catherine]

WOW! This is incredible.  We already use rats to seek out land mines. They are great at it.  Why not search and rescue. Rats would be naturals at searching through rubble. They seem to train pretty quickly.  Rats can get through small holes and and have very good sense of smell and night vision.
They even look cute in their vests.

We never think of rats as service animals, but they are very intelligent and they are easily trained. They seem motivated to help.
They would be able to get into the places that search and rescue dogs can't go. They could even work together. A dog could determine that there are survivors and then the rat could find them. I love the fact that they can carry a little radio in with them. Talking to survivors would give them hope and help those trying to rescue them.

I hope it is an idea that catches on. It might help rats get some respect from people.