HERO Rats

In 2025, my mom and I took an amazing tour with Collette called “The Kingdoms of Southeast Asia.” We started in Vietnam, visited Cambodia, Laos, and ended in Thailand. I fell in love with the food, people, and scenery. This part of the world was not on my bucket list and that was a mistake. I would travel back in a heart beat and highly recommend it to anyone. This particular trip was unique to Collette as it was considered a small group exploration tour, which meant there were less than 30 people on the tour. It provided so many unique moments such as riding a Vespa at night through Saigon, high-fiving passengers on the slow train through the markets, and seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise. I think one of the many impactful moments that stood out for me was when we visited the APOPO Visitor Center in Siem Reap, Cambodia. 

If you are visiting Angkor Wat, I highly encourage you to visit the visitor center after your temple tours. The APOPO tour lasts about an hour and it is a fun 10-minute tuk-tuk ride from Pub Street. This tour is an educational tour that is fantastic for all ages and costs about $10 per person. I hate to admit this, but I had no idea this program even existed until I took the tour with Collette. Let me tell you a little more about this life-saving program. The information and facts I will be sharing are taken from my tour brochures and the APOPO website, so I can provide accurate information. 

APOPO stands for “Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development.” They are a non-profit organization that trains rats to save lives. Their headquarters are located in Tanzania, but they have operations in Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe. Their primary focus is clearing landmines and detecting tuberculosis by researching, developing, and implementing rats’ technology to help provide global solutions. The program was developed by Bart Weetjens and financial support was given by the Belgian Directorate for International Co-Operation (DGIS) in 1997. 

The rats used for the program are the African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei) due to their longer lifespan and adaption to Africa’s harsh conditions. They are also very resilient to many tropical diseases, which means less veterinary care. The rats still receive daily observations, weekly health reports, and regular preventive measures such as parasite treatments. Every two weeks, a vet will visit the facility to check on the animals and provide necessary care. Most of the rats in the APOPO programs live their expected life-span, which is around 8-10 years in captivity and none have died from detection work. The HERO rats work in the field up to 6-7 years of age before their retirement. Don’t worry, their retirement still includes a balanced diet, plenty of exercise, and weekly heath checks. 

These little heroes are omnivores and eat like the elite force they were born to be. From Friday to Sunday, they eat a balanced diet of grains, maize, nuts, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, and small fish such as sardines. This diet is the permanent diet for the breeding rats, but they are also supplemented during the week with additional fruits and vegetables. The trained rats receive this diet as well, but they also receive a reward diet consisting of bananas, avocados, peanuts, and rodent pellets. The rats share kennels with their siblings, but they have regular play time in shaded outside pens. Their kennels are cleaned regularly by their own caretaking staff. They also get plenty of individual attention including snuggles. 

The African giant pouched rat was chosen for the program due to its well-developed olfactory capacity, adaptability to environments, size, life-span, widespread availability, temperament, and cost-efficiency. These little heroes are social, clean, intelligent, and extremely hard workers. Their typical work day is Monday through Friday for about 20-30 minutes in the field then rest and play on the weekends. A healthy rat will weigh between 2.36-2.81lbs for males and 2.15-2.55lbs for females. Weight is an important aspect to de-mining because pressure-activated mines typically require about 22lbs of pressure to activate. The heaviest male rat will not exceed 3.3lbs; therefore, they are not in danger of activating a mine. The rats can smell TNT in low concentrations even when buried up to 15-20cm below the ground. They can detect TNT odor from a distance of about 3 feet. During their training, the rats learn not to be distracted by other objects or odors as they sniff out TNT or TB. A tuberculosis (TB) rat can screen 100 samples in 20 minutes, which would take a lab technician 4 days to complete. APOPO has increased the detection rate of participating clinics by an average of 48%. The mine detection rats can search an area the size of a tennis court in 20 minutes. They can detect both metal and plastic landmines and they are 100% accurate! 

During our visit to the APOPO Visitor Center in Cambodia, we had time to explore the main lobby area before entering the theatre for a short video that explained the mission of APOPO and how it has helped countries around the world. After the video, we were treated to a training demonstration with the rats and their handlers in one of the facility’s fields. It was so fascinating to see the relationship between the handlers and their hero. Yes, the rat found the device each time it was put to the test! After the training session, we were all allowed to give the rat a few congratulatory snuggles. Before leaving the center, I adopted Cambodia’s local HERO, Ronin. The cost was a $120 USD for the adoption and it was valid for 1 year. They had other ways to support the APOPO mission, but I chose this option. During my adoption year, I would receive email updates on Ronin and his work progress. My adoption fee went directly to Cambodia’s line mine detection services. Sadly, Cambodia still has an estimated 4 to 6 million land mines and unexploded munitions left over from conflicts that started in 1970. It broke my heart to see the pictures of the children affected by the remnants of war. 

During your travels, if you get the chance to visit an APOPO center, I highly recommend you stop in and see their mission at work. If you feel lead to support this program or want more information, I have attached a link for you to do so. 

APOPO Contribution and Fundraising Link: https://apopo.org/support-us/fundraise-for-apopo

References:

APOPO link: https://apopo.org/who-we-are/faqs/

PBS link: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-renews-foreign-aid-funding-to-clear-land-mines-in-cambodia

Collette tour link: https://www.gocollette.com/en/tours/asia/vietnam/three-kingdoms-of-indochina

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