Rat-ical solution: the giant pouched rodents saving lives in Cambodia’s minefields
With their keen sense of smell, the rats have helped clear conflict remnants from more than 1,970 square km of fields
The African giant pouched rats, which can grow up to 45cm (18 inches) and weigh up to 1.5kg (3.3 pounds), are on the front line, making their way nimbly across fields to signal to their handlers when they get a whiff of TNT, used in most landmines and explosive ordnance.
“While working with these rats, I have always found mines, and they have never skipped a single one,” said Mott Sreymom, a rat handler at APOPO, a humanitarian demining group that trains and deploys rodent detection teams across the world.
“I really trust these mine detection rats,” Mott said from near a landmine field in the province of Siem Reap.
Following three decades of conflict in the last century, remnants of war continue to affect approximately 4,500 square km (1,737 square miles) of land in Cambodia, according to a 2004 survey by the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA). This issue impacts all 25 provinces in Cambodia and nearly half of the country’s 14,000 villages.