Mine-detecting “hero rats” have for the first time helped clear a minefield in Cambodia, Belgian NGO Apopo announced on Saturday, more than two years after they began testing in the country.
Working with the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), 14 African giant pouched rats began sniffing out the landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) on May 3 and covered 8.9 hectares before completely clearing the site in Siem Reap province’s Varin district on Friday, Apopo said in a statement posted to its Facebook page.
Using their acute sense of smell, the rodents can locate both metal and plastic explosives and, unlike dogs, are light enough to avoid detonating them.
CMAC director-general Heng Ratana said on Sunday that the rats helped them find 13 landmines and UXOs—mostly Chinese-made 72a anti-personnel mines, which were often used by the Khmer Rouge.
Mr. Ratana said he could not comment on the potential of the rats yet, as the project was still in its trial phase, but that so far “the results have been very positive.”
Apopo first began training rats for demining in Tanzania in 2008 and successfully cleared minefields in Mozambique and Angola in 2010.
In November 2013, the organization was given the green light to start testing in Cambodia, which is one of the most landmine-affected countries in the world.
Mr. Ratana said that about 8 hectares of a minefield in Siem Reap’s Prasat Bakorng district had also been cleared by the rats earlier this year, with plans to clear 30 hectares, but that the work was cut short due to conservation concerns.
District governor Phu Sam Ath said in order for the demining teams to rid the area of explosives, they needed to clear the forest in the district’s Trach Village, which is protected by the Apsara Authority, the state agency that oversees the Angkor Archaeological Park.
“Apsara Authority would not allow CMAC to discover mines in this area because the forest would lose its beauty…so CMAC and Apsara discussed it and decided to suspend the mine-clearing project,” Mr. Sam Ath said.
(Additional reporting by Aun Pheap)
