Believe it or not this was one of the things I was looking forward to the most during our travels around South East Asia. I’m a big fan of rats (I’m aware I’m probably in the minority here) and I couldn’t wait to meet a giant rat!
What is APOPO?
APOPO use scent detection animals (primarily giant African pouched rats) to save lives through deactivating landmines, and detecting tuberculosis.
Why are rats used?
The Giant African Pouched rats are easy to train, have an amazing sense of smell, are light so don’t set off landmines, live between 6-8 years, and are relatively cheap to feed, breed, and maintain. In short, they’re perfect for the job!
Are the rats looked after well?
Yes. They are looked after incredibly well. Their welfare is the top priority of APOPO. They have a great diet, regular exercise, and lots of love. All of the handlers are very well trained to ensure the rats are looked after properly.
The rats are checked weekly by vets, and when they reach 7 years old they begin their retirement. A retired rat continues to receive the same great diet, exercise, stimulation, and love.
Where are APOPO based?
I visited APOPO in Siem Reap in Cambodia. APOPO first began in Mozambique in 2007. They are now based in 7 countries which are Senegal, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Ukraine.
Why landmines?
A landmine is an explosive device that is either buried or placed on the ground. They are designed to injure and kill people. Landmines are set off by pressure usually. This can either be by pressure directly applied to the landmine or by tripping a wire.
There are 60 countries in the world that are contaminated with landmines, and there are thousands of accidents per year because of active landmines. Many of these accidents involve children who don’t know what landmines are and think they are toys to play with. These accidents can result in severe injury and death.
If there is land contaminated by landmines then people aren’t able to use this land to grows crops or build houses. This has a huge impact on the economic development in areas affected by war.
As well as landmines there are hand grenades, unexploded artillery shells, rockets, and more (known as UXO- unexploded ordnance) that the Hero Rats are able to detect.
How do the Hero Rats detect the landmines?
The rats are taught to detect the landmines through clicker/reward training. They are taught to scratch the earth above the landmines and they then hear a ‘click’ noise from the handler which results in a treat for the rat.
The rats only sniff out explosive scents rather than all metal which makes them better than metal detectors. They are also much faster than a human would be.
A Hero Rat can check the area of a tennis court in 30 minutes. This would take a human up to 4 days.
It takes around a year to fully train a Hero Rat. The process begins with socialising the rats and getting them used to being handled by humans.
They then start their clicker and scent training. They learn to associate the ‘click’ sound with a treat. After they have got to grips with this they are shown an object that contains TNT (explosive). Whenever they touch this they hear a ‘click’ and get a treat.
To make sure they only detect TNT they are shown objects where some contain TNT and others don’t. If they touch an object with no TNT then they don’t get a treat.
The rats then learn to detect the TNT in soil and where the TNT is buried. They have their own rat sized harness and learn to dig where the TNT is.
Before being allowed to go to a real minefield the rats have to pass a test. The rats must find all landmines in a 400 square meter area and not make any mistakes. If they pass then they graduate to a proper Hero Rat!
Their work with Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease affecting the lungs that kills over 1 million people every year. Over 95% of TB deaths happen in low and mid income counties. This essentially means that countries with high levels of poverty will have higher levels of TB deaths.
APOPO carries out research into their Hero Rats detecting TB in samples provided from clinics. If TB is detected quickly and treated then the chance of survival is very good. If left untreated it can result in death for the individual and mean that many more are infected. This just continues the vicious TB cycle.
A Hero Rat can screen 100 samples in 20 minutes. This would take a lab technician up to 4 days.
How can you help?
If you ever find yourself in Siem Reap then 100% pay a visit to APOPO. You need to book yourself on to a guided tour where you’ll be told all about the work they do, get to see the Hero Rats in action, and even hold a Hero Rat!
If you aren’t able to visit in person then there are other things you can do to support the cause.
- Donate online here
- Buy a HeroGift. These range from a basket of bananas for the Hero Rats to funding the socialisation of a Hero Rat pup.
- Purchase some merchandise
- Adopt a Hero Rat! You can virtually adopt a Hero Rat and the money goes towards the work they do.
Down to Earth Travel 
Leave a comment