>From:    "F. Scott Giarrocco" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Ferrets as mine detectors
 
We wouldn't worry too much about this ferrets as mine-detectors issue.
Just laugh about the proposal as you imagine ferrets trying to drag mines
off to put in their hidey holes.
 
We were contacted a while back by the same person through our "Ask Buddha"
page.  I'll quote excerpts.
 
We had sent out the first note we got back where the mines came up to some
of our friends.  A response we got back from that says it all.  They won't
get past initial trials on dummy 'mines'.  Just how does a ferret tell you
it found something?  Ferrets don't bark.  If they start a wardance of
excitement, how do you know where they are referring?  Ferrets just aren't
'pointers'.
 
|Thank you so much for your information (about blind and deaf ferrets).
|It was helpful, even if I did ask a strange question.  There is a really
|good reason that I asked the question, though -- I'm working on this
|project to find a better landmine detector, and my advisor and I are
|thinking of using ferrets.  Rest assured, the ferrets are too light to
|set off the mines, so they are perfectly safe running around in the
|minefields.
 
Note that bit about 'my advisor', probably just a grad student, those of us
who work as engineers don't talk about 'our advisor'.  The note came from a
web email address not a defense contractor.  Bill works for a defense
(sub)contractor right now.  This doesn't at all look like a 'real'
contract.
 
That bit about perfectly safe isn't true but a ferret is probably too small
to set off almost all trip wires.  Remembering that most minefields are in
places where rabbits and birds would be found, mines would be most useful
if they weren't wasted on the small fauna that would be cruising through
the fields.  Awfully expensive to make bunnies disappear.
 
>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 mine
 
But...
 
|We were thinking that they are lighter than dogs (which are currently
|used in the field), and have an equivalent (or better?) nose.
 
According to the correspondant dogs are being used.  Ferrets are proposed
by this one person to replace the dogs.  And yes ferrets are lighter and
may well have better noses.  Ferrets would be cheaper to purchase but in
the long run would not likely be an affordable option.  Training costs
would probably be higher for the ferrets that seem to all have ADD.
 
>The only safe and reliable way to locate and remove mines is for a
>trained human specialist to do the extremely dangerous work.
 
Nope.  Very very very dangerous work for humans.  Some American soldiers
that were specialists died just this summer cleaning up after the
Serbians/Yugoslavians.
 
There is no safe way nor reliable way to remove mines.
 
|They seem like the perfect solution, and my advisor and I were thinking
|of testing them as landmine detectors over the summer.  We were thinking
|that if the ferrets did not have the sense of sight or hearing that their
|sense of smell would be greater (sensory compensation and all that).
|This is the reason for my interest in blind and deaf ferrets.
 
Grad students aren't necessarily in the know about what really will or
will not work.  Sensory compensation isn't real anyway so there are lots
of flaws.  Okay Bob, do we get yelled at for that crack about grad
students? <g>  There is a difference between Masters students and Doctoral
students.  Bill did that grad student thing himself for a while.
 
She might try.  Get her credit with her school perhaps but there is
approximately zero chance of deploying relatively untrainable ferrets
in a assignment like this.
 
A blind or deaf ferret is at more disadvantage and as we all know not any
less likely to be distracted if say a bunny had hopped through at some
point
 
b&d.
 
--
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2853]