Dogs 'Have Sixth-Sense For Earthquakes'

September 25, 2003

A Japanese researcher claims dogs can sense earthquakes before they happen.

Kiyoshi Shimamura said that during years of practice he noticed a jump in dog bites and other dog-related complaints around times earthquakes occurred.

Dr Shimamura examined the records of such complaints in parts of western Japan affected by a 1995 Kobe earthquake that killed more than 6,000 people.

He said accounts of dogs barking excessively, biting and displaying other unusual behaviour spiked in the two months before and after the quake.

Records at three centres on Awaji Island, which was above the epicentre, showed a 60% increase in the month prior to the earthquake compared to a year earlier.

His results will be presented to the Seismological Society of Japan next month.

A Japan Meteorological Agency researcher who declined to give his name said: "There are many accounts of animals exhibiting abnormal behaviour around the time of a big earthquake.

"But verifying such accounts and tying them to earthquake prediction - there's no scientific basis for that."

The city of Tokyo spent years in the 1990s researching whether catfish behaviour could be used to predict earthquakes, but abandoned the study as inconclusive.

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