Perhaps the most ingenious method of utilising Rats for military service was that of the ‘exploding rat’, developed for use in World War II by the British Special Operations Executive the exploding rat was employed as a weapon of mass destruction. The exploding rat was essentially a rat’s carcase stuffed with plastic explosives; the idea behind it being that they could be distributed within German munitions factories, and that upon discovery the exploding rat would (in theory) be thrown by the German worker into the factories boiler, resulting in, well, an explosion obviously.

Strangely however the very first shipment of exploding rats sent out by the allies was intercepted by the Germans, the allies then discontinued the exploding rat project but the Germans continued to be on the look-out for more exploding rodents and exhibited those that they had intercepted at top military schools across the country.

Rats were also used as weapons during World War II by the Russians, infected with a disease called ‘Tularemia rats were released within the German frontlines in a bid to infect the German troops with the disease.

Tulremia was first discovered in 1911 due to an outbreak of rabbit fever, the microbe responsible for Tulremia was found to be able to spread from animal to human. Those infected with Tulremia initially suffer from dizziness, fatigue, muscle pain and nausea, this leads on to fever and gland suppuration which can eventually develops into a life threatening condition.

As a weapon the Tulremia infected rodents were extremely successful, used in an offensive against the German army led by Friedrich von Paulus the infected rats were able to severely reduce the opposing army’s ability to fight. It is believed that after the battle of Stalingrad at least fifty percent of the German prisoners were infected with Tulremia.

In 2008 ‘Palestine Today’ alleged that Zionist Israeli colonizers were using rats as a weapon against Jerusalem’s Arab population in an attempt to displace the citizens in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Zionist settlers are said to be entering the city armed with iron cages full of rats and releasing them into drainage channels. Through the spreading of disease and general nastiness Palestine Today claimed that the purpose of these Zionist rat weapons is to ‘increase the suffering of Jerusalemites in the old town, transforming their lives through tragedy with the aim of pushing them to leave their homes and leave the city.’

And finally the rats having been employed in such dastardly ways listed above are being given the chance to make amends, staff at ‘Porfell Wildlife Park’ in Cornwall, UK, are being trained to act as an anti-landmine system. Too light to set off the explosives the landmine detecting rodents are able to detect the scent of the landmines casing and alert their handler.

Starting their training at just five weeks old the landmine detecting rats have a sense of smell more acute than that of a dog, the sniffer rats are taught to recognise the scent associated with metal landmine casings and rewarded with treats when they do so.

The rats fitted to a leash are able to clear a 100 metre square area in around 30 minutes, an area that would usually take several days using normal techniques.

Mine detecting rats are currently in use at Mozambique in Africa and have proven to be extremely successful.