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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Smart rats sniffing out Cambodia’s vast mine fields

Denis D. Gray Associated Press

TRACH, Cambodia – It’s been a busy morning for Cletus, Meynard, Victoria and others of their furry band. Tiny noses and long whiskers twitching, they’ve scurried and sniffed their way across 8,300 square feet of fields to eliminate a scourge that has killed thousands of Cambodians: land mines.

These intelligent, surprisingly adorable creatures have some of the most sensitive noses in the animal kingdom. Sent from Africa, where they successfully cleared minefields in Mozambique and Angola, they began the same task in northwestern Cambodia early this month and have already scored tangible results.

Several acres have been declared mine-free around this village where more than 15 people have been killed or wounded by the explosives.

One villager, Khun Mao, said the rats have been sniffing for suspected mines in a rice field he had been afraid to cultivate for years. He said while it is too soon to say whether the rodents can remove every mine, “To me, these rats are wonderful.”

“The villagers have started to get excited about farming their land again. You can see the light in their faces,” said Paul McCarthy, Cambodia program manager for a Belgian nonprofit organization dedicated to clearing mine fields.

Unlike standard mine detectors, these super-sniffers pick up only TNT and not other metal objects. And unlike wage-earning humans, the rats work for peanuts – and their other favorite, bananas.