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The medal was won by Magawa in a five-year career that smelled of more than 100 landslides and explosives.
Magawa, who found more than 100 mins and explosives in Cambodia and won the medal for his heroism for smelling mines, has died at the age of eight, according to the charity he trained.
Done, who retired died last June in the weekend, the international nonprofit organization APOPO reported on Tuesday.
“Magawa was in good health and spent most of last week playing with his usual excitement, but he started to slow down towards the weekend, taking more naps and showing less interest in food in recent days,” APOPO said in a statement.
Scarred by decades of civil war, Cambodia is one of the largest mining countries in the world, with more than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of land still contaminated.
Belgium-based APOPO trains giant African rats to detect mines, calling them “HeroRATs”.
Using rats to smell mines poses less risk to human managers who need to disarm and remove weapons.
“All of us at APOPO are feeling the loss of Magawa and we are grateful for the tremendous work he has done,” the organization said in a sincere tribute. “His contribution will enable Cambodian communities to live, work and play without fear of losing their lives or limbs.”
Explaining the extreme dangers involved, three Cambodians who were working to clean up the pain were killed on Monday in a province bordering Thailand.
Three people from Cambodia’s Self-Help Deminaing group were killed in an explosion of tank mines and two others were injured, said Heng Ratana, director of the Cambodian Mines Action Center.
In 2020, Magawa was awarded gold medal He was the first rat to receive a prize from the UK People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals for his “courage and devotion to saving his life”.
Magawa was raised in Tanzania and was brought to Siem Reap in Cambodia in 2016 to start clearing mines.
“A hero dies,” APOPO said.
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