AFP, Phnom- Penh :
Cambodia is training an elite squad of rats, imported from Africa, to sniff out landmines and other unexploded ordnance in the once war-wracked kingdom, authorities said on Friday.
A team of 15 rats, some weighing up to 1.2 kilograms, were imported from Tanzania in April with the help of a Belgian non-governmental organisation, which trains rats to sniff out mines, Heng Ratana, director general of Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), told AFP.
“If the rats pass the test, we will use them… if they are not qualified, we will end the program,” Ratana told AFP.
He said there have been claims of success in using rats to sniff landmines — as well as detect tuberculosis — in several African countries including Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola.
The rats are now being trained by experts in northwestern Siem Reap province, home to Cambodia’s famed Angkor temples complex.
But one of the rodents has already died probably because of the change in climate, he said.
Cambodia is training an elite squad of rats, imported from Africa, to sniff out landmines and other unexploded ordnance in the once war-wracked kingdom, authorities said on Friday.
A team of 15 rats, some weighing up to 1.2 kilograms, were imported from Tanzania in April with the help of a Belgian non-governmental organisation, which trains rats to sniff out mines, Heng Ratana, director general of Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), told AFP.
“If the rats pass the test, we will use them… if they are not qualified, we will end the program,” Ratana told AFP.
He said there have been claims of success in using rats to sniff landmines — as well as detect tuberculosis — in several African countries including Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola.
The rats are now being trained by experts in northwestern Siem Reap province, home to Cambodia’s famed Angkor temples complex.
But one of the rodents has already died probably because of the change in climate, he said.
