Magawa, an eight-year-old landmine-sniffing rat in Cambodia, has died over the weekend after a remarkable five-year-long career of saving lives in the Southeast Asian nation. The rat won a medal for heroism and found more than 100 landmines and explosives, according to Reuters.
According to the BBC, Belgium-based charity organisation APOPO, which trained Magawa, said the rodent was in good health and “spent most of last week playing with his usual enthusiasm”. But by the weekend “he started to slow down, napping more and showing less interest in food in his last days”.
“All of us at APOPO are feeling the loss of Magawa and we are grateful for the incredible work he’s done,” the charity said in a statement. His “amazing sense of smell” allowed “communities in Cambodia to live, work, and play; without fear of losing life or limb”, it said according to the BBC.
APOPO trains African giant pouched rats to detect landmines, which it calls “HeroRATS”.
Magawa was trained to detect chemical compounds within the explosives and cleared over 141,000 square meters (1,517,711 sq ft) of land. Weighing 1.2 kilogram and 70 centimetre long, Magawa was small and light enough not to trigger mines by walking over them.
The rat was efficient enough to search a field the size of a tennis court in merely 20 minutes. As per APOPO, a person with a metal detector would take one and four days to complete the task. The rat retired last June, after “slowing down” as he reached old age, the BBC reported.
A video featuring Magawa, shared by Reuters on Twitter, shows Magawa sniffing landmines, eating fruits and playing around. The video has garnered over 81,000 views. Netizens lauded Magawa’s contributions and some users expressed their condolences. “RIP to a legend,” commented a user.
Watch the video here:
‘A hero is laid to rest’: Cambodia’s Magawa, an African giant pouched rat who found more than 100 landmines and explosives, has died aged 8. Magawa, who retired in June 2021, was born in Tanzania and moved to Cambodia in 2016 to begin clearing mines https://t.co/q03uieuvsU pic.twitter.com/cPPmBoVy9l
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 12, 2022
— NErdNqN4 (@SSpock3) January 12, 2022
More worth than the humans who support violence in the name of politics or religion. RIP the good rat. #Magawa #RIP
— Imran Ahsan Mirza 🪃 (@imranahsanmirza) January 13, 2022
Born in Tanzania, Magwa was brought to Siem Reap in Cambodia in 2016 for detecting landmines.
Cambodia is one of the world’s most heavily land mined countries owing to decades of civil war. There are more than 40,000 amputees living in the country who lost limbs to explosives, according to Reuters.
On Monday, three people working to clear mines died in the Preah Vihear province, bordering Thailand. They were a part of the Cambodia Self-Help Demining group.
Two others were also wounded in the blasts from anti-tank mines, Heng Ratana director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center told Reuters.