MINE-DETECTING RAT AWARDED MEDAL

A five-year-old giant African pouched rat called Magawa has been awarded Britain’s highest civilian honor for bravery because of his talent for sniffing out landmines and unexploded ordnance. Magawa was trained by the Belgian charity APOPO which trains rats to sniff out landmines and tuberculosis. (* Yes, tuberculosis. Not a typo!) The most successful bomb-sniffing rat in the program, Magawa has sniffed out 39 landmines and 28 items of unexploded ordnance. Millions of landmines were laid in Cambodia between 1975 and 1998, causing tens of thousands of casualties. Magawa works with the mine removal group in northern Cambodia. He can cover an area the size of a tennis court in just 30 minutes, something that would take four days using a conventional metal detector. He is big enough to be attached to a leash, but light enough not to set off mines. When he smells a mine, he scratches the ground. Magawa is the first rat to receive a PDSA medal (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals) in the 77 years of the awards, which are given to animals who assist in saving human or non-human life.
* So, like, aliens who crash-land in UFOs?
* He would have been happier with a little Babybel cheese medallion, but a medal is nice, too.
* This would have made a better movie than Ratatouille.
* Hopefully Magawa will never get a bang out of his job.
* The doctor comes in and says, “According to this rat here, you either have tuberculosis, or you’re going to explode.”