Magawa the mine-detecting rat wins PDSA Gold Medal

[muriel_volestrangler]

An African giant pouched rat has been awarded a prestigious gold medal for his work detecting land mines.

Magawa has sniffed out 39 landmines and 28 unexploded munitions in his career.

The UK veterinary charity PDSA has presented him with its Gold Medal for "life-saving devotion to duty, in the location and clearance of deadly landmines in Cambodia".
...
The seven-year-old rodent was trained by the Belgium-registered charity Apopo, which is based in Tanzania and has been raising the animals - known as HeroRATs - to detect landmines and tuberculosis since the 1990s. The animals are certified after a year of training.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-54284952

Although two and a half pounds, he's still light enough to not trigger the mines. What a good idea.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Perfect timing....

I just was reading the Guardian about the rise in Covid cases and there was a picture of a rat in the middle of the page....it's wearing a medal!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/25/magawa-the-landmine-detection-rat-given-gold-medal-for-bravery


https://t.co/6TGRCEHGdE https://t.co/tXqrtWUmhf

Link to tweet

?s=20

[King_Klonopin]

4. He has tiny rat hands -- reminds me of someone (?)

[Lonestarblue]

5. He looks much better than Rush Limbaugh looks with his.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

6. Awww! I hope he got his favorite treats.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. At two and a half pounds, he's not much of a giant rat.

We have a 239-pound giant rat in the Oval Office.

Think Apopo could train him?

[keithbvadu2]

3. A sudden recurrence of bone spurs,

A sudden recurrence of bone spurs,

[pansypoo53219]

8. 329. got the #s mixed.

[OnlinePoker]

7. There's an organization that deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

Don't give it to the rat in the White House.