Outsourcing Down a Rat Hole


Alas, it has to be a sign of the times in which we live. An important job long held and performed diligently by humanity's best four-legged friend, the beloved canine, is being outsourced...to rats.

Recently authorities in Brazil announced that in an effort to reduce costs and avoid negative PR potential, they are planning to end the use of bomb-sniffing dogs. The new candidate for this dangerous and important job in Brazil, will now fall to humanity's least favorite companion animal, the rat. According to the Brazilians, rats work for much lower wages than dogs; a few pounds of dog kibble may feed a few dogs for a week or two, but an equivalent amount of rat kibble will feed hundreds of rats for several weeks. Rat hoursing requirements are also less, with many rats being perfectly happy to live in the same amount of space normally occupied by a single dog. And of course there's also the positive PR impact of hiring rats instead of dogs; people are usually disturbed to hear of a dog being blown up, but very few people give a hoot if a rat gets blown to bits. Essentially, rats are just more disposable.

I tend to agree with the reasoning of the Brazilians. I'd much rather see rats doing this type of dangerous work than dogs.

Posted: Mon - April 24, 2006 at 09:48 AM          

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