First Minefield Cleared by Cambodian HeroRats
Last year, a team of eager HeroRATs arrived in Cambodia to support the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) demining teams and speed up demining operations in the country. It was the first time the rats have been outside of Africa. After a period of acclimatization and continued training, the rat teams were rigorously tested according to the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS), and in early 2016 the HeroRATs were deployed on the minefield.
Today APOPO and CMAC are proud to announce that they have officially cleared their first minefield as a team! Over the last month our HeroRATs have been working on the minefield at Khnar Phtoul clearing over 89,000 square meters in just 31 days.
“Landmine clearance is usually an incredibly expensive and painstaking task. That’s why the mine detection rats are so amazing. They quickly and accurately find landmines because they only smell explosive and ignore all the bits of metal lying around. They really speed up mine clearance efforts and get communities safely back on their land. All these villagers want is the dignity of being able to work and support their families without constantly living in fear.” said Paul McCarthy.
One MDR can search up to 200 square meters in 20 minutes - this would take a manual deminer with a metal detector up to 4 days (depending on the levels of scrap metal).
Cambodia’s devastating landmine problem is the product of a civil war that spanned three decades. At least 67,000 people in Cambodia have been killed or injured by landmines and UXO since 1979. While landmine victims are usually intended to be military, they can remain active for up to 50 years after they are laid and do not discriminate who they hurt. Armies that lay mines rarely keep a record of the number deployed or their locations. So when conflicts end, villagers return to their land and find that they have no choice but to work, and play, on potentially lethal land.
APOPO and CMAC aim to give back land to communities for farming and resettlement, helping to improve their standard of living and end the decades of terror that they have lived with. We are grateful to the Government of Liechtenstein, Dutch Postcode Lottery, and the JTI Foundation for funding our work in Cambodia.
Source. I'm abusing my modly powers to post an article with an atypical source. I'm cheating in the name of Good News and in the hopes that others might 'adopt' a cuddly sniffer for the betterment of humanity at $7/mo. The rats are trained to sniff out either TB or landmines (which they are too small to accidentally detonate). They retire at 7-8 years to a quiet life of nibbling bananas and receiving skritches.
Bonus HeroRat info: why rats are great for the job, how they're trained to detect mines and how they're trained to detect TB. (General FAQ includes details on their care.)
