These Rats Aren’t Called Heroes for Nothing – Amazing VIDEO
Mozambique was declared clear of landmines only last month, and one of the reasons which made it possible was because of the little-publicised rats that have been trained to sniff out the deadly explosives. Widely known as Hero Rats, they are part of a programme run by the nonprofit organisation APOPO, whose slogan is “we train rats […]
Mozambique was declared clear of landmines only last month, and one of the reasons which made it possible was because of the little-publicised rats that have been trained to sniff out the deadly explosives.
Widely known as Hero Rats, they are part of a programme run by the nonprofit organisation APOPO, whose slogan is “we train rats to save lives”, and which is based at the foot of the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania.
It was started by Belgian Bart Weetjens who developed a special relationship and appreciation for the rodents he kept as childhood pets in Belgium.
In 1995 Weetjens was exploring solutions for the global landmine problem, when he came across a publication using gerbils as scent detectors, and the idea for landmine rats was born.
Various candidates came up but it was the African Giant Pouched Rat, ‘Cricetomys Gambianus’, that seemed best suited for mine detection, according to APOPO, because of its lifespan of up to eight years and its African origin.
The rats were trained to sniff out buried explosives, and in 2003 they were taken for the first time into Mozambique to do detection work. Two years later APOPO began the HeroRAT campaign, to get people to adopt a rat.
By 2013, APOPO says, it had exploded the last three landmines in the Gaza province of Mozambique, after clearing more than six million square meters and uncovering 2,406 landmines. The last mines were cleared from Mozambique in September.
The latest figures on APOPO’s website say that it has helped clear 59,419 landmines and UXOs (unexploded ordinances) in various countries.
In 2002, tests were also started at APOPO to train the rats to do something else – detect tuberculosis.
“The devastating surge of TB and the lack of an appropriate diagnostic tool inspired APOPO to test the rats on their ability to sniff out positive TB sputum samples,” says APOPO. “They were collected from the hospitals in Morogoro (in Tanzania), and soon the rats proved they could also do this job.”
Halfway through 2009, the TB detection rats had evaluated more then 50,000 sputum samples since they started in 2007, and identified over 1,000 TB patients that were missed by conventional microscopy.
The rats’ de-mining work is not done either. In 2010, the first rats were taken to Thailand to possible work there, and in 2012 they were taken to Angola.
Cambodia too is still littered with landmines, and it was reported in June that 15 rats were taken there.