Big rats sniff out bombs in Mozambique

TOFO, Mozambique, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A few enterprising Mozambicans say they might be able to turn their rabbit-sized, land mine-sniffing African rats into a tourist-attracting oddity.

The rat handlers let their rodents poke around at the end of thin leashes until they scratch at the ground. That's the sign they've discovered an explosive device, The Georgia Straight reported in its travel section July 31.

Dennis Adams, a hostel owner who moved to Mozambique from South Africa eight years ago, told the Vancouver, British Columbia, newspaper he thinks tourists could be attracted by the spectacle of giant rats looking for land mines.

"People would come and see the rats work in the field with the trainers," Adams said. "We could sell T-shirts, and the tourists could have their photos taken with them."

In fact, the rats are part of a non-profit Belgian group's efforts to remove thousands of land mines buried in Mozambique's soil during the country's bloody civil war, which ended in 1992.

If tourists don't like the rats, they can always head to the beaches for some scuba diving among the coral reefs, rife with manta rays and whale sharks, the newspaper noted.