A mine-detecting rat – honored for its bravery in Cambodia for helping save lives – has died, the NGO that trained it announced Tuesday.
Magawa, a giant African rat from Tanzania, helped clear nearly 225,000 m2 of land, equivalent to 42 football fields, during his five-year career.
After detecting more than 100 mines and other explosives, the rodent was removed in June.
Magawa died "peaceably" last weekend at the age of eight, the Belgian NGO APOPO said in a statement.
"Everyone at APOPO is sorry for the loss of Magawa and grateful for the incredible work he did.", the group noted.
APOPO said Magawa was healthy, and spent most of the weekend playing with her usual enthusiasm, but that she had started to show signs of exhaustion on Sunday. "taking more naps and with less appetite".
Active in Asia and Africa, the Belgian NGO had trained Magawa by rewarding her with her favorite foods: bananas and peanuts.
He had been taught to scratch the ground to signal to humans the presence of the TNT contained in the explosives.
This technique allows you to work much faster than with a metal detector as it avoids confusing mines with scrap metal.
At 70cm, Magawa explored the equivalent of a tennis court in 30 minutes, a task that would take up to four days for a human equipped with a metal detector.
In September 2020, Magawa received a gold medal from the UK’s People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, which annually rewards an animal for bravery.
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