Mine-detecting rat honoured with statue in Cambodia

A famous mine-clearing rat, who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism, has been commemorated with the world’s first statue dedicated to a landmine-detecting rat, the BBC writes.

Magawa, who lived to eight years old, sniffed out over 100 landmines and other explosives in Cambodia during his five-year career that started in 2016.

Landmines remain an ongoing risk to Cambodia, and more than a million people continue to work and live on land contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance, according to the United Nations.

Magawa, an African giant pouched rat, was trained by the Belgian charity Apopo before moving to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career in 2016. Using his acute sense of smell and training to detect a chemical compound within explosives, Magawa would then alert human handlers of mines that could be later safely removed.

During his time, Magawa cleared more than 141,000 square metres of land – the equivalent of 20 football pitches – and could search a field the size of a tennis court in just 20 minutes.

Following a short retirement due to old age and “slowing down”, Magawa died in 2022.