Posted on 01/11/2022 10:38:08 AM PST by Scarlett156
Magawa, the famous mine-clearing rat who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism, has died at the age of eight.
In a five-year career, the rodent sniffed out over 100 landmines and other explosives in Cambodia.
Magawa was the most successful rat trained by the Belgian charity Apopo to alert human handlers about the mines so they can be safely removed.
The charity said the African giant pouch rat "passed away peacefully" at the weekend.
It said Magawa was in good health and "spent most of last week playing with his usual enthusiasm". But by the weekend "he started to slow down, napping more and showing less interest in food in his last days".
Bred in Tanzania, Magawa underwent a year of training before moving to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career. There are thought to be up to six million landmines in the South East Asian country.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Also I anticipate that people will say such things as "How did the rat live that long in Cambodia and not get eaten?" and so forth. Have a great time.
"Trained to detect a chemical compound within the explosives, Magawa cleared more than 141,000 square metres (1,517,711 sq ft) of land - the equivalent of 20 football pitches."
I guess Magawa could check out an area in just 20 minutes that it would take a human days to check.
Magaway ended his career last year when he started to show signs of slowing down. Here's a thread from FR about it!
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3965447/posts
Will there be a dinner in his honor?........................
Alert Biden to put the Whitehouse flag at half staff.
>>Will there be a dinner in his honor?<<
Most certainly. And because it’s in the Orient, the giant pouch rat will be the protein in the noodle dish.
His momma was quoted: "He was a good boy. Always wanted to help people, even though he was a different species. It wasn't all about "the cheese" or blind hatred of cats with him. All young rats, mice and hamsters and even squirrels, can look up to him."
Certainly did more good than George Floyd ever even thought to do.
Bless his ratty little heart. If there’s a Rat Heaven, he surely went there.
Rats are actually pretty cool. I like them. Yeah, I’m kinda strange.
That’s pretty amazing.
Who thought of that? I keep wondering.
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