The gambia hamster rat Magawa, which tracked down mines in Cambodia and saved numerous lives, has died. The Belgian-registered NGO Apopo, which trained Magawa, reports this in a press release on Tuesday. Magawa passed away “peacefully” last weekend. “A hero has been laid to rest,” it sounds.
Magawa retired in June last year, but in his five-year career, the rat has helped clear some 225,000 m² of land, or some 42 football fields. He tracked down a hundred mines and other explosives during that period, making him Apopo’s most successful “HeroRat”. In half an hour he can comb the surface of a tennis court, which can take up to four days for a person with a metal detector. At 1.2 pounds and 70 cm, it was much larger than many other rat species, but still small and light enough not to detonate the mines.
According to Apopo, Magawa was in good health, and he has played a lot with his usual enthusiasm in the past week. By the weekend he started to show signs of fatigue. In November, the rat’s birthday was celebrated, “he reached the old age of eight”.
Apopo is active in Asia and Africa, and has been headquartered at Sokoine University Agriculture in Tanzania since 2000. Magawa was also born and trained there, like all other Apopo rats that track down landmines. The NGO employees teach animals to scratch the ground when they notice the presence of TNT. This makes it possible to work much faster than with a metal detector.
In September 2020, Magawa was awarded a gold medal by the British animal protection organization PDSA (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals). That organization awards an animal every year for its courage. Magawa was the first rat to receive such an award.
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