MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Magawa, the detecting landmines Hero-Rat has died and APOPO staff praise its achievements

Magawa was among the most successful rats ever trained by the charity, and was the first rat in its 77-year history to receive the PDSA accolade.

A hero rat who was commended for his outstanding service detecting landmines has died. Magawa, a giant African pouched rat trained to find unexploded ordnance, was retired last year.

The 'HeroRAT' had discovered dozens of landmines in Cambodia since he was trained by charity APOPO, and was awarded a miniature PDSA Gold Medal – the animal equivalent of the George Cross – in 2020.

He was among the most successful rats ever trained by the charity, and was the first rat in its 77-year history to receive the PDSA accolade.

APOPO, Antipersonnel Landmines Detection Product Development, is a registered Belgian non-governmental organization and US non-profit which trains southern giant pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis. They call their trained rats 'HeroRATs' .and operate from Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania.

These rats easily trained can sniff out the chemical compounds of TNT (explosive) found in landmines and other explosive remnants of war. They ignore scrap metal making them much faster at detecting landmines than metal detectors.

Likewise the TB detection rats are at least as accurate as conventional routine microscopy, but up to twenty times faster.

APOPO staff published a few lines on the loss of Magawa recalling his incredible performance in seven years having found over 100 landmines and explosives in Cambodia.

Every discovery he made reduced the risk of injury or death for the people of Cambodia. Magawa is an African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei) that was born in Tanzania at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in November 2013. Since 2000, APOPO has developed its operational headquarters, training and breeding center at SUA where all the landmine detection rats are born and trained. This is also home to APOPO’s Innovation department that researches and develops the innovative applications and advanced techniques used in existing operations. This is where he learned how to find explosives using his amazing sense of smell. Magawa moved to Siem Reap in Cambodia in 2016, where he began his career.

Over 60 million people living in 59 countries from Cambodia to Zimbabwe, do so in daily fear of landmines and other remnants of past conflict. Landmines are still inflicting pain and fear to a new generation of Cambodian people, a generation that wasn’t even born when these mines were laid. Clearing minefields is intense, difficult, dangerous work and demands accuracy and time. This is where APOPO’s animal detection systems can increase efficiency and cut costs.