Pest controllers to use facial recognition to catch rats

Rat catchers are going hi-tech, using facial recognition to hunt vermin.

The pest control firm Rentokil Initial has developed a modified form of the identification technology that will allow cameras at infested sites to track individual rodents. That will enable controllers to count numbers at a particular location and catch the creatures one-by-one.

The facial recognition system will be unveiled at the company’s innovation hub in Sussex later this week.

Experts came up with the system after discovering that tame and wild rats had different fur colours and skull shapes.