PHNOM PENH – Magawa, the ‘hero’ mouse decorated for sniffing over 100 antipersonnel mines and other unexploded ordnance in Cambodia, died last weekend at the age of 8. The Belgian NGO Apopo gave the news. “Magawa was in good health and spent most of her time playing with her usual enthusiasm. As the weekend approached, she seemed slower and slept more, showing less interest in food in her final days,” she said. in a statement the NGO that has been taking care of it since the African giant rat “retired” less than a year ago.
Magawa took his leave (complete with a medal) last June, after five years of work in which his nose allowed him to find more than 100 mines and unexploded ordnance in the second most affected country in the world by this type of weapons after the ‘Afghanistan. Over the years Magawa has cleared an area of 225,000 square meters of explosives in areas of Cambodia hit by bombs and abandoned mines, helping local communities to resume operations without fear of being blown up. The work of the giant mouse, born in Tanzania in 2013, was recognized in September 2020 by the Pdsa organization (acronym for People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals), which rewards animals for their courage and devotion, awarding them a gold medal . The recognition made Magawa the first mouse to receive such an award in the 77-year history of the PDSA and to share the glory with numerous dogs, some horses, pigeons and a cat.
Apopo trains mice to detect chemicals in explosives and ignore abandoned metal scraps to find unexploded ordnance faster.
Cambodia is the second most affected country by mines in the world after Afghanistan, and it is believed that during the armed conflicts that devastated the country between 1975 and 1998 up to 6 million were deposited, of which 3 million were not deposited. have still been located. Anti-personnel mines have caused about 64,000 victims in the country, which has the highest number of amputees per capita in the world: more than 40,000 people out of a population of 16 million.
.