PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A giant African pouched rat
called Magawa who spent years sniffing out landmines in the Cambodian
countryside has stopped working and will enjoy a well-earned retirement eating
bananas and peanuts, his employers told AFP.
اضافة اعلان
Magawa, originally from Tanzania, was trained by the Belgian
charity APOPO which says the rodent helped clear mines from 225,000 square
meters of land in his five-year career, the equivalent of 42 football pitches.
But after detecting 71 landmines and 38 items of unexploded
ordnance “he is getting a bit tired,” Michael Heiman, the charity’s program
manager in Cambodia, told AFP on Saturday.
“The best thing to do is to retire him.”
Millions of landmines were laid in Cambodia between 1975 and
1998, causing tens of thousands of casualties.
APOPO trained
Magawa in his native Tanzania to detect the
chemical compound within explosives by rewarding him with tasty treats — his
favorites being bananas and peanuts.
He alerts de-miners by scratching the earth.
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