The rat, which saved thousands of lives while searching for mines in Cambodia, died

11. 01. 2022 19:38 | CAMBODIA / TASR

He retired last year

Rat Magawa, who was awarded for saving lives because he was able to find buried mines better than trained dogs, died over the weekend at the age of eight. The Belgian-based NGO APOPO, who once trained him to search for mines and sent him on a mission to Cambodia

. 225,000 square meters, which is equivalent to 42 football fields. After the discovery of more than 100 landmines and other explosives, he retired in June last year.
Rats they learn to scratch the sign where they exploded the explosive. This technique, which is not based on scrap metal detection, allows the deminers to work much faster than with a metal detector.

APOPO trained Magawa to receive a favorite diet, such as bananas and peanuts, for each finding. the condition after retirement was good. He also spent most of last week playing with his usual enthusiasm, APOPO said. Over the weekend, however, he had less energy, “he dozed more and showed less interest in food,” said the charity. He eventually died “peacefully” this weekend.

The PDSA Award is the animal equivalent of the highest civilian award in Britain. Magawa became the first rat to be awarded this prize in 77 years, and has joined a plethora of honored dogs, cats and pigeons. , millions of landmines have been planted in Cambodia. Their explosions claimed tens of thousands of lives. Four more joined them on Monday: three Cambodian deminers were killed in an anti-tank landmine, and a local farmer was killed in a booby-trapped mine