Animals Sense of Smell is Saving Lives

In the article “From land mines to cancer, animals’ incredible sense of small is saving lives”, written by The Independent through a creative commons license that was taken from Mosaic by Emma Young. In this article is talks about how animals are being tested to sniff out cancer and other diseases. They are testing out animals from rats to dogs, and the animals have had success in being able to sniff for certain diseases. A trial is being taken place in Tanzania, where they are testing on rats to be able to sniff out tuberculosis. Dogs are being able to sniff out cancer and are being tested within the UK and United States.

In this photo it showcases a laboratory in Tanzania that is currently testing rats to sniff out tuberculosis as well as being able to sniff out landmines. The rats are being provided with scents of landmines and articles of clothing from people with tuberculosis. This picture is a great picture to use because it sets the setting of the article. It’s inside of a laboratory in the country of Tanzania, which is where the testing of landmines and tuberculosis is being held within the article I’ve read.

There has been a huge issue with landmines and people stumbling upon them unexpectedly. Bart Weetjens upon graduating from university and former product designer, was in Tanzania trying to figure out the landmine situation. He was coming up with ways to be able to detect where there is a landmine. He remembered having pet rats as a child and knew how intelligent they were. So he decided to test out rats with being able to find landmines. I picked this photo as a medium shot because this is another location where the article is taking place and talking about. Between the search for the landmines and laboratory.

The rats that are being tested to sniff out landmines and tuberculosis use the scent to find what they are looking for. When the rats are sniffing out landmines, the are harnessed and brought to suspected areas. They are then let go to sniff around and find the exact location. When sniffing out tuberculosis, the rats will sniff items to get the sent. They will then be taken in to sniff items of those suspected with tuberculosis. I picked this photo as the portrait because it paints a picture of the main character being talked about in the article.

Aside from the rats being able to detect landmines and tuberculosis, dogs are currently being trained to sniff out cancer and other serious illnesses around the world. Dogs are able to sniff out if something is wrong with you. They are taught to dictate what smell goes to what. If someone is suspected of cancer or another serious illness the dog is brought in to sniff the person. If the dog sniffs something that could be a potential cancer or serious illness the dog will lay ride down and cross their paws. I picked this photo as captioning the detail because this photo shows how the dogs learn how to sniff for certain things. The smells are located on the plates and as the pass the dog, the dog will let them know which one had cancer or another serious illness.

There are many different ways the dogs are tested to find cancer and other serious illnesses. They are tested with humans wearing certain scents, they are tested with different machines and they are tested using different layouts with different scents. I picked this photo as my action photo because it showcases the dog sniffing and finding something.

I picked these images because they either went along with the original article I read or were in other related articles. These photos convey the overall story because they are showcasing what is going on and what they are finding with these tests. It shows the animals in action and also shows what type of testing they are enduring. It also shows that none of the animals are being harmed. If I had different photos or arranged the photos differently the story would change because it wouldn’t go along with what I’m exactly talking about or trying to convey. Some of the ethical concerns could be if using random photos, could take away from the story or take away from what you are trying to convey. If it is taken away from that, than the truths of the story could be depicted and people might not understand fully what is going on. Ethical concerns with the images I selected could be not properly placing them within the article and not preparing citing them. Visual reporting can be impactful because it paints what the overall story is trying to convey. It works for those who are visual learners as well. Those that need visuals to understand something, could better understand what the article is if conveyed through pictures. With the way media is going and technology advancing, visual story telling could take stories to whole new levels and platforms.