>Landmines: do they know that ferrets prong when excited?  Such concentrated
>jumping might be a risk factor for setting off the mines if there is enough
>force.  If this could be done safely I'd imagine that the ferrets would be
>considered very valuable and would be treated royally as a result; it would
>also be good PR.
 
There simply isn't any safe way to use ferrets as landmine detectors.
Despite what the researchers may claim to the contrary -- the ferrets will
be sacrificed.  Anti-personnel mines are triggered through a variety of
methods -- pressure plates being only one of the methods.  They are also
routinely triggered by trip wires, which even a ferret could easily trigger
resulting in the mine exploding and sacrificing the ferret.  And it is the
anti-personnel mines which are the most concern for safety of civilian
populations -- since they are so easily triggered.  The truth is that it
would prove fatal to almost any animal to be used to locate such mines --
and a ferret would have no way of telling the difference between an
extremely sensitive anti-personnel mine and an anti-vehicle mine.  The only
safe and reliable way to locate and remove mines is for a trained human
specialist to do the extremely dangerous work.  It is simply too dangerous
to the animal to use any animal as mine detectors.
 
This research is ill conceived from the beginning and has as its basis only
one factor -- ferrets are more disposable than humans and other working
animals.  Dogs have been used for decades to sniff out explosives -- ask
yourself why dogs who already have a proven track record of success aren't
being used to detect the mines.
 
Here's an experiment for any ferret person to try at home that will
demonstrate the extreme danger to ferrets in mine detecting: Attach small
bells (like Christmas jingle bells) to a length of string or twine.
Stretch the string taughtly between the legs of a chair, table, or other
upright supports.  Listen for the sound of the bells.  If the bells ring,
that would mean the ferret found and detonated the mine.  In other words --
BOOM, and a dead ferret.  As I said before, using ferrets as mine detectors
is a bad idea from a stand point of the safety of the animal.
[Posted in FML issue 2852]