JUST as AI threatens humans, squirrels are now threatening dogs.

Carefully-trained canines seemed to have the drug-sniffing industry sewn up.

However, we may soon see a different scene playing out in airports, at festival gates and outside nightclubs as the first team of sniffer squirrels take up their surprising new role.

They may even be better than their larger rivals in the narcotics detection game as they are able to search much smaller spaces, while stashes hidden up trees and in bird feeders will most certainly no longer be safe.

Police in Chongqing, China, have trained six Eurasian reds for the tasks.

The squirrels have been taught to scratch when they smell narcotics using techniques normally used on dogs.

Police dog trainer Yin Jin told the Chongqing Daily that ‘these squirrels have a rather keen sense of smell’.

Yin warned though that it will be a while before the squirrels are actually utilised in drug busts due to the complex training process.

The police intend to conduct more real-world tests before deploying the squirrels for active duty.

Yin told the The Washington Post that ‘it’s probably going to take some time’.

This is not the first time that other animals aside from dogs have been used for their sensitive schnozzes.

Rats have been used to sniff out bombs and even bees can be trained to sniff all manner of substances.

The revelation about the squirrel squad swiftly gained traction across China.

The video shared by the People’s Daily (below) showcased the squirrels in action, diligently sniffing different surfaces and skilfully navigating obstacles during lab tests.

One commentor on MailOnline pointed out possible difficulties recruiting the rodents, saying:  “[I] Dont know why they’d want to do this job. They are only paid peanuts.”

While another thought the idea was genius. “Excellent. Squirrels are nimble, excellent climbers, smart, and when was the last time somebody was attacked by a squirrel?”

That may be true but do you really want a hungry squirrel sniffing at your nuts on the way into Glastonbury?

Us neither.