By LESLEY MARROQUIN
Staff Writer
Many of us are aware that animals are not just pets, but are used to assist people. You have service and rescue dogs all the way to trained service ponies. (I am not joking, it’s a thing. Google it.). Some dogs are even used to help search for explosives and drugs. But, have you ever heard of a rat being used to search for explosives? Recently, British charity’s top civilian award for bravery was given to a rat for searching for landmines in Cambodia. The name of this giant African pouched rat is Magawa. He discovered 39 landmines and 28 items of unexploded ordinance in the past seven years. The Belgian organization that trained Magawa, has apparently trained rats to find land mines for more than 20 years! Imagine telling people your job is to train rats. This organization, APOPO, works with places like Cambodia, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to aid in clearing mines that have been left over from wars. Magawa has been the best rat they’ve trained clearing more than 141,000 square meters of land. But because we are Americans who don’t use the metric system, 141, 000 square meters is about 20 soccer fields. You’re welcome.