PHNOM PENH, Jun 6 (NNN-AKP) – Award-winning rat, Magawa, will retire this month, after spending five years detecting landmines in Cambodia, a landmines detection charity APOPO said.
The African giant pouched rat was awarded, in Sept, 2020, a gold medal from British veterinary charity People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), for his work detecting landmines in Cambodia.
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, directly saved the lives of men, women and children, who were impacted by hidden landmines and other deadly remnants of war.”
To date, he 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 helped clear over 225,000 square metres 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 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 Nov, 2013.
APOPO said, a group of 20 newly trained landmine detection rodents that arrived in Cambodia in Mar, received their accreditation from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) last week, to start their mine-sniffing career.
Regional and internal conflicts from the 1960’s to late 1998, left Cambodia as one of the most mine and explosive remnants of war affected countries, in the world.
An estimated four to six 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, claimed 19,797 lives and either injured or amputated 45,123 others.– NNN-AKP
