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By Harriette Halepis

Source acquired via Hosted News, May 20, 2010, Walsrode, Germany – Hunting dogs were once the only animal with keen enough sense to discover rotting corpses. Today, turkey vultures are beginning to take over the position of the humble hunting dog. One particular vulture, named Sherlock, is currently being trained to find and locate human bodies.

Turkey Vultures & GPS

Police in Walsrode, Germany, have hired bird trainer, Alonso, to train Sherlock to detect rotting human corpses. By placing small bits of meat in bowls covered with a sheet that was once used to cover a corpse, Sherlock is learning to like the scent of rotten meat. Police officer Rainer Hermann got the idea to use a turkey vulture in place of a hunting dog from “…a colleague of (his) who got the idea from watching a nature program.” Since turkey vultures are faster than dogs are, Rainer believes that “…time could be saved when looking for dead bodies…” Vultures like Sherlock will be fitted with GPS tracking devices, so that police can find a bird once a bird has located a body.

In addition, vultures can burrow into places that dogs can’t reach, which may make it easier to find missing persons. While Sherlock seems to be making progress, Alonso believes that this project would work better if “we (they) had a trio, led by Sherlock.” According to Alonso, this would allow for “…more ambitious stuff.” For now, Sherlock is operating without a Watson, though this may not be the case for long. If the “Sherlock project” turns out to be worthwhile, Alonso may be training more than one bird to locate corpses.

Sherlock has been a popular tourist attraction for those visiting Walsrode, and all who encounter the corpse-sniffing bird are amazed at his skills. Seemingly, there’s only one problem with using a turkey vulture to tracking down a human corpse: in order to survive in the wild, turkey vultures feed off of rotting flesh. Then again, it’s possible that a vulture raised in captivity can be taught not to peck at any remains found. Sherlock has never lived in the wild, which is one of the main reasons why Alonso is able to train him. The Sherlock program has not been put into place quite yet, though Alonso told press that Sherlock “…now has a rough idea of what he has to do.”