Hero

Earlier this month, Cambodia unveiled the world's first statue honoring a landmine-detecting rat.  Who knew?

Magawa the rat was trained by the Belgian charity Apopo before moving to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career.  He lived to eight years of age and identified more than 100 landmines and other explosives from 2017 to 2021.

There are more than 100 African pouched rats deployed in detection operations such as this across the world.  The rats are trained to sniff out explosive compounds like trinitrotoluene (TNT) as the rats are not hefty enough to trigger a detonation.  

Following decades of conflict it is estimated that in Cambodia alone there are as many as six million undiscovered landmines.  Consequently, since 1970 more than 20,000 people have been killed and another 40,000 wounded and maimed by this lurking ordnance.

Magawa cleared more than 1.5 million square feet of land and could search a tennis court-sized area in 20 minutes compared with four days by a human.

In 2020, Magawa was awarded the PDSA Gold Medal - the George Cross for animals - for his 'life saving devotion to duty'.  He was the first rat to receive the award in the charity's 77 year history.

And that's not all.  Learn more about the African pouched rat's ability to detect tuberculosis here.