Rats as big as cats

This is cool man. I saw the other photo where a man was holding one of the rats. Huge as. You can put them on a leash and take them for a walk.

(Source: NZ Herald)

Giant rats put to work detecting mines


MOZAMBIQUE - Gambian giant pouch rats are being put to work in Vilancoulos, southern Mozambique, to detect mines planted in the country's 20-year civil war. The rats are trained from an early age to associate the scent of explosives with a food reward and indicate the suspected presence of explosives by grooming and scratching the earth. The rats, which grow as large as a domestic cat, have a sense of smell as powerful as that of a dog. They have also been used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis by smelling blood samples in a Belgian research programme. The clearing of Mozambique's many minefields is funded by international donations, the country's non-government organisations and the Government.