Magawa ‘Hero Rat’ Retires from Cambodian Bomb-Smelling Career News Asia Pacific

The seven-year-old rodent has seized 71 landmines and 38 unexploded ordnance artillery, according to its employers.

Magawa, an award-winning retired African giant rat, is retiring after five years in Cambodia smelling of landslides and unexploded ordnance.

The seven-year-old rodent, originally from Tanzania, was trained by Belgian charity coach APOPO and according to him, Magawa helped clean up 225,000 square meters of land in the mines during his career, the equivalent of 42 football pitches.

But after detecting 71 unexploded ordnance materials and 38 unexploded artillery, “he is getting a little tired,” Cambodian charity program director Michael Heiman said on Saturday.

“The best thing to do is to retire,” Heiman said. In the fall years, Magawa will spend more time doing what he likes: eating bananas and peanuts, Heiman added.

The charity trained Magawa in his hometown of Tanzania to detect a chemical compound inside explosives, rewarding them with delicious sweets.

In 2016 he moved to the northwestern city of Siem Reap in Cambodia, home to the famous Angkor temples, to begin his career in smelling bombs.

In September last year the rodent won for his courage is the equivalent of Britain’s highest civilian honor, for his tremendous ability to reveal earth pains and unexploded ordnance.

Magawa was the first rat to receive the PDSA medal in 77 years of the awards, joining a famous group of brave dogs and felines — and even a pigeon.

“Although he is still in good health, he has reached retirement age and has clearly started to slow down,” the charity said.

Born in 2014, Magawa only spends 30 minutes traversing the area the size of a tennis court, which would take four days using a conventional metal detector.

He warns the miners of violating the land.

While rodents can be trained to detect odors and work on recurring tasks for food rewards, APOPO decided that African giant rats were better at improving their land for mining because their size allows them to roam the mines without causing explosives. much faster than people. They also live to be eight years old.

According to the charity, the 20 newly trained rats that have just arrived in Cambodia have just received their accreditation from the authorities to begin work on detecting landmines.

But it will be a tough challenge following in Magawa’s footsteps.

Heiman said Magawa is “a very magnificent rat.” “Obviously, we’re going to miss out on operations.”