"(The) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals deplored the experiments as well as the possible use of remote-controlled rats." — Associated Press, May 4, 2002

PENTAGON INSISTS REAL RATS NOT BEING USED

Under withering fire from animal rights activists, who blasted the Pentagon's plan to fit live rats with electrodes so they could be steered toward hidden bombs or disaster victims, the U.S. Defense Department today promised that actual rats will not be used.

Instead, said Pentagon spokesman Art Kekich, the military will use baby chicks surgically altered to look like rats.

More to follow...