{"id":250611,"date":"2026-04-06T11:43:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/?p=250611"},"modified":"2026-04-06T13:34:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:34:55","slug":"mine-detecting-rat-honoured-with-statue-in-cambodia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/en\/news\/250611\/","title":{"rendered":"Mine-detecting rat honoured with statue in Cambodia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Following a short retirement due to old age and “slowing down”, Magawa died in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"