A PLAN by German detectives to replace sniffer dogs with trained vultures has run into a headwind after the feathered sleuths showed little interest in helping police with their inquiries.

In theory their advantage over dogs in finding bodies seemed clear; they can spot a dead mouse from more than 1000m and fly over terrain that would tire or stop the most dedicated hound in its tracks.

Three turkey vultures, led by a magnificent specimen named Sherlock, were therefore trained by enthusiastic police near Hanover, Lower Saxony, British newspaper The Times reported.

Fitted with tracking devices, the hope was that these winged scouts would help to bring speedy closure to body hunts, relief to grieving relatives and swifter justice to villains.

Other forces in Germany and across Europe took interest: tens of thousands of people go missing on the continent each year, making the "vulture squad" potentially a low-cost, high-return investment of the sort that chief constables can normally only dream.

Rainer Herrmann, a police commissioner from the State Office of Criminal Investigation in Hanover was placed in charge.



Nicknamed "The Birdman" by fellow officers, he once created a database for rare parrots targeted by avian thieves.

Unfortunately the scheme just has not taken off. And neither has Sherlock - who prefers to hop to a training burial site instead of flying to it. And that is inside the bird park where he lives.

He has not put so much as a feather outside the park, because, as German Alonso, his trainer, explained: "The bird is naturally anxious, and he would hide in the woods or bolt."



He told news magazine Der Spiegel: "He also struggles to distinguish between animal and human dead."

Two young vultures named Columbo and Miss Marple were brought into the park last year from Austria, supposedly to learn from Sherlock.



"But the young ones can't do anything, besides fight with each other," he said.



Originally published as Cops wanted to swap dogs for vultures