Magawa, a

decorated rat for detecting antipersonnel mines

in Cambodia, died last weekend at the age of 8, reported the Belgian NGO APOPO.

"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 last days," he noted this Tuesday in a statement the NGO in charge of their training and care.

Magawa retired last June after five years of work in which

his nose has allowed him to find more than 100 mines and unexploded bombs

in the second country most affected by these types of weapons after Afghanistan.

In his tenure, Magawa cleared a 225,000-square-meter area of ​​explosives in areas of Cambodia affected by bombs and abandoned mines, helping locals regain their activities without fear of death or amputation.

The work of this giant African rat, born in Tanzania in 2013, was recognized in September 2020 by the organization PDSA (acronym for People's Dispensary for Sick Animals), which

rewards animals for their bravery and devotion,

by awarding them a gold medal .

This recognition made her

the first rat to receive such an award

in PDSA's 77-year history and share the glory with numerous dogs, some horses, pigeons and a cat.

APOPO trains rats to

detect the chemicals in explosives

and ignore abandoned metal scraps to find unexploded ordnance much faster.

Cambodia is the second most affected country by landmines in the world after Afghanistan, and it is believed that

up to 6 million

were laid during the armed conflicts that ravaged the country between 1975 and 1998, of which 3 million have not yet been located. .

Antipersonnel mines have caused around

64,000 victims in the country,

which has the highest number of amputees by them per capita in the world: more than 40,000 people for a population of 16 million inhabitants.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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