Drug-sniffing squirrels join China’s police force

Six Eurasian red squirrels in Chongqing, China have been “successfully trained” to sniff out drugs

Squirrels were chosen for their small stature (PA Wire)

A squad of drug-sniffing squirrels are set to join China’s police force.

In a first for a police unit in southwestern China - and the world - the small and agile creatures will be joining an elite narcotics division.

Six Eurasian red squirrels have now been “successfully trained” and will be deployed out to large complex sites, such as logistics warehouses to uncover drugs that may be hidden there.

The animals have been chosen as part of an initiative to test the use of other animals in drug-busting operations.

Squirrels, in particular, were selected due to being small enough to reach places the dogs cannot.

They have been trained to use their claws to scratch at boxes to alert their handlers that they have detected drugs.

Trainers have also taught the rodents how to squeeze into compact spaces and sniff out drugs hidden inside tightly packaged parcels.

The Eurasian red squirrels have been trained to cram themselves into compact spaces and sniff out drugs (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Yin Jin, a police dog handler in Chongqing, China, has been assigned to train the squirrel anti-narcotics squad.

On Monday, she told state media outlet Chongqing Daily that the squirrels have done an “excellent job” in drug detection exercises so far.

She said that training the squad was the culmination of years of research, adding: “These squirrels have a rather keen sense of smell.”

However, in an interview on Thursday, Yin said that it may yet be a while until the squirrels are actually utilised in any drug-busting operations.

The squirrels have been picked instead of sniffer dogs in hopes to utilise other animals in drug-busting operations (PA Archive)

This is because, Yin said, that it took years for the police to be confident that they were correctly training the rodents for operations.

She said: “Our techniques in training rodents was not mature enough before.”

Chinese media outlet People’s Daily, the official publication of the Chinese Communist Party, has shared footage of the squirrels darting between boxes and canisters of similar sizes and colours, before pausing to sniff them and figure out which ones contain Class A drugs.

The video even went viral on Weibo, a popular microblogging site, as it had been viewed more than 51 million times.

It comes following China’s strict anti-drugs laws, as it plans to enforce its zero-tolerance policy towards drugs.

In 2018, the country cracked down on the drugs trade and launched an initiative to identify and train new animals, including rodents, to detect them.