Bomb-sniffing rat retires after award-winning Cambodian career
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Magawa, originally from Tanzania, was trained by the Belgian charity APOPO
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A giant African pouched rat called Magawa who spent years sniffing out landmines in the Cambodian countryside has stopped working and will enjoy a well-earned retirement eating bananas and peanuts, his employers told AFP.
Magawa, originally from Tanzania, was trained by the Belgian charity APOPO which says the rodent helped clear mines from 225,000 square metres of land in his five-year career, the equivalent of 42 football pitches.
But after detecting 71 landmines and 38 items of unexploded ordnance "he is getting a bit tired", Michael Heiman, the charity’s programme manager in Cambodia, told AFP on Saturday.