Are Virus-Sniffing Dogs a Viable Option During the COVID-19 Outbreak?

By Sullivan Cauley

Humans have been coexisting with dogs for thousands of years. Most estimates put it around 15,000 years, or well before written history. Dogs herd livestock, protect communities, hunt wildlife, and keep us generally sane in cultures all over the world. They’ve earned the title of “Man’s Best Friend” a thousand times over and, as modern problems confront us, we’re still finding novel uses for them. As the National Guard activates a historic response, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the U.S. In our current shortage of testing equipment for the disease, dogs could be a valuable wildcard.

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Virus-Sniffing Dogs

Dogs are beautiful examples of people harnessing the power of natural systems for our purposes. In this case, the natural system of evolution created wolves with incredibly sensitive olfactory (smelling) senses. We were able to, over many years, selectively breed most of the murderous ferocity out of a group of wolves while keeping the astounding senses. What we’re left with are animals in possession of unimaginably powerful detection instruments (their noses) who are willing to use them for our purposes in exchange for snacks.

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Source:: Tactical Life