Rat gets gold medal after identifying lots of landmines in Cambodia

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    Rat award

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    A giant African pouched rat Magaw has actually been honoured (Picture: PA)

    A giant African pouched rat has actually been identified for his ‘lifesaving bravery and devotion to duty’.

    Rodent Magaw has actually found 39 landmines, 28 products of unexploded ordnance and has actually cleared more than 141,000 square metres of land – the equivalent of 20 football pitches.

    He has actually now existed with a mini PDSA Gold Medal, the animal equivalent of the George Cross.

    Magaw is the very first rat trained by charity APOPO to get such an award and is the organisation’s most effective Hero Rat.

    APOPO president Christophe Cox stated: ‘The PDSA Gold Medal award brings the problem of landmines to global attention.’

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    Magaw has actually found 39 landmines (Picture: PDSA/APOPO)

    Rats are ‘intelligent’ and will operate at recurring jobs for food benefits much better than other animals.

    Their size suggests they remain in less threat when they stroll through landmine fields.

    The rodents are trained to identify a chemical substance within landmines in addition to tuberculosis and need a year of training prior to they are licensed.

    Once they identify a landmine, they scratch the top, which signals their human handlers.

    They work for around half an hour a day, in the morning.

    Magawa, who is now nearing retirement age, can browse the location of a tennis court in 30 minutes, something that would take a human with a metal detector approximately 4 days.

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    Magawa using his PDSA Gold Medal (Picture: PDSA/APOPO)

    PDSA director basic Jan McLoughlin included: ‘Magawa’s work straight conserves and alters the lives of males, ladies and kids who are affected by these landmines. 

    ‘Every discovery he makes reduces the risk of injury or death for local people.’

    Cambodia approximates that in between 4 and 6 million landmines were laid in the nation in between 1975 and 1998, which have actually triggered over 64,000 casualties.

    It has the greatest variety of mine amputees per capita worldwide – more than 40,000 individuals.

    A virtual discussion for Magawa will happen today and can be seen online here.

    Get in touch with our news group by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, inspect our news page.