Some authorities in China have come up with an unexpected alternative to the traditional guard dog.

" Police in rural parts of China's Xinjiang Province are no longer turning to dogs to stand guard at police stations at night. "

The use of geese in place of dogs to guard police stations seems to be gaining in popularity. In one incident in China's Xinjiang Province, a man attempted to break in to a police station to retrieve his confiscated motorbike when the 'guard geese' sounded the alarm with their trademark honking. It might sound like a strange idea, but geese have excellent hearing and eyesight while the noise they make is sure to draw attention to any break-ins.Geese also tend to be very territorial animals, meaning that they are unlikely to fly off in the middle of the night and will react with hostility when someone is there. Whether we will see geese being used as a mainstream form of guard animal in place of dogs elsewhere in the world however remains to be seen.