Simon Pope, a spokesman for the World Society for the Protection of Animals in London, said his group would like to know whether other rat-control methods that don't involve toxic substances were investigated and what assessment has been made about the pesticides on the birds.

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The next step, Dr Courtine hopes, will be to put the implant directly under the rat's control, so that it is switched on automatically when the animal thinks about moving.

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Conservative MEP Ashley Fox said it could lead to a loss of control over rat population across the continent.

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Cameras tracked their movements and were used to control a rat-sized robot that shared a cage with the rodent subjects.

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We're not sure that Vulcans would endorse this kind of mind meld, though: apart from immediately depriving the decoder rat of self-control, prolonged testing led to the same rodent developing additional sympathetic reactions to the encoder.

ENGADGET

Chris Gratton, an employee of Poulin's Pest Control in Edmonton, says officers stopped by the shop with a dead rat two years ago to demonstrate what to look for.

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