March
21
/ 2018
An innovative US research program is underway to sniff out smuggled antiquities. Called K-9 Artifact Finders, it is a project set up to train sniffer dogs to aid in the battle against cultural heritage looting. The primary focus right now is in seeing if the dogs can detect artifacts from conflict zones in Iraq and Syria. According to The Guardian, the working dog program is the brain child of Rick St. Hilaire, founder of Red Arch – a non-profit group which has research interests in archaeological looting and cultural heritage trafficking. Apparently the idea came to St. Hilaire after he saw a news report showing that a dog could detect electronics, he said, “I thought, if dogs could detect electronics
