Phnom Penh, Cambodia | Xinhua | Award-winning rat Magawa will retire this month after spending five years detecting landmines in Cambodia, a landmines detection charity APOPO said in a press release on Saturday.
The African giant pouched rat was awarded in September 2020 a gold medal from British veterinary charity People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) for his work detecting landmines in the Southeast Asian nation.
Magawa, whose official job title is HeroRAT, was trained in Tanzania by APOPO to detect the scent of the explosive chemicals used in landmines and point them out to his handlers.
“During his illustrious five-year career, HeroRAT Magawa’s work has directly saved the lives of men, women and children who were impacted by hidden landmines and other deadly remnants of war,” APOPO said.
To date, he has found 71 landmines and 38 items of unexploded ordnance, making him APOPO’s most successful HeroRAT, APOPO said, adding that over the past five years, he has helped clear over 225,000 square meters of land.
“Magawa’s performance has been unbeaten, and I have been proud to work side-by-side with him,” said Malen, Magawa’s handler.
“He is small but he has helped save many lives allowing us to return much-needed safe land back to our people as quickly and cost-effectively as possible,” she said. “But he is slowing down, and we need to respect his needs. I will miss working with him.”
Magawa was born in Tanzania in November 2013.
APOPO said that a group of 20 newly trained landmine detection rodents that arrived in Cambodia in March, received their accreditation from the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) last week to start their mine-sniffing career.
Regional and internal conflicts from the 1960’s to late 1998 had left Cambodia as one of the most mine and explosive remnants of war affected countries in the world.
An estimated 4 to 6 million landmines and other munitions were left over from some three decades of conflicts.
According to a government report, from 1979 to 2020, landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) explosions had claimed 19,797 lives and either injured or amputated 45,123 others.
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Xinhua
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