Fish-Sniffing Cat Helps Battle Smugglers
Date: 09-Jul-03
Country: RUSSIA
Russian police battling fish smugglers have deployed a cat to sniff out contraband, including Caspian Sea sturgeon which produce Russia's world famous caviar.
A police control post in the southern Stavropol region adopted Rusik one year ago and it now helps officers conduct spot checks on vehicles, the Itar-Tass news agency reported yesterday. The cat had distinguished itself with an outstanding nose for fish.
"The cat finds it in any hiding place," Itar-Tass quoted a police spokesman in Stavropol as saying, adding that Rusik was fed on confiscated fish.
Several species of fish in the Caspian Sea, on Russia's southern border, have become endangered since the collapse of Soviet rule led to a sharp rise in fish smuggling.
