Rodential Heroics

There is a seven-foot stone statue in Siem Reap, Cambodia, unveiled just last week. It depicts a rat standing upright, wearing a gold medal.

It's not the strangest monument out there. But when you learn what Magawa did to earn it, it might be among the most deserved.

A Rat Named Magawa

Magawa was an African giant pouched rat, born in Tanzania in 2014 and trained by APOPO, a Belgian NGO that has spent decades doing one of the most painstaking and dangerous jobs in the world: teaching animals to find landmines. APOPO sent Magawa to work in Cambodia in 2016, when he was about two years old.

His job was straightforward, in theory. Walk over a potentially contaminated field. Find the chemicals that indicate an unexploded device. Scratch at the surface. Receive a peanut or a banana slice. Repeat.

Over his five-year career, Magawa cleared more than 1.5 million square feet of land mines and other explosives — making him one of the most successful bomb-sniffing rats in APOPO's history. That's roughly 20 football fields returned to farmers, to children, to people who had been afraid to walk their own land for decades.

Why a Rat?

I get it. The first reaction most people have to "bomb-sniffing rat" is skepticism — or perhaps a few raised eyebrows. But rats deserve better than their reputation because: the logic is elegant. African giant pouched rats are among the world's largest rats, yet they are still too light to trigger a mine's detonation pressure — making them far safer to deploy over contaminated land than humans or dogs. And their noses are extraordinary. Magawa could search an area roughly the size of a tennis court in just 20 minutes — work that would take a human with a metal detector far longer to complete.

Speed. Safety. And a nose that doesn't care about the rusty nails and shell casings that send a metal detector into a frenzy. It turns out the rat is, for this specific problem, a better tool than anything humans built.

The Scale of the Problem

This site is called Lady Di's Mines because Diana, Princess of Wales, walked an active minefield in Angola in January 1997. She met children who had lost limbs. She campaigned. She kept going right up until her death that August.

The problem she was fighting is still very much with us. Cambodia alone has been left with millions of landmines — the legacy of conflicts stretching from the Vietnam War era through several subsequent decades. The country now has the highest rate of mine amputees per capita in the world, with more than 40,000 people having lost limbs.

Ridding a country of explosives is not a weekend project. It's a generational undertaking. Cambodia aims to be completely land mine-free by 2030 — and getting there requires the whole ecosystem: human deminers, metal detectors, and yes, rats. APOPO's rats have collectively found over 106,000 mines across their programs worldwide. Each detection is a future that doesn't end in a hospital or a grave.

"The Smallest Actor"

On April 4th — International Day for Mine Awareness — the statue of Magawa was unveiled in Siem Reap by Dr. Ly Tuch, First Vice President of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority.

The speech, as translated, was striking. "Before us stands Magawa — a small creature, yet one who changed the ground beneath our feet," it read. "Families measured every step. But Magawa moved through that same land with calm precision. Where others saw risk, he found what was hidden."

And then: "The statue we unveil today carries more than form. It carries a message — that even the smallest actor can leave a lasting impact."

I don't know who wrote that speech, but they got it right.

Gold Medal, Retired, Gone

In 2020, Magawa became the first rat ever to receive a gold medal for bravery from the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) — a UK veterinary charity that has given similar honors to animals serving in wartime since World War II. He retired in 2021 for age-related reasons. In his final period, he helped train successor rats, teaching by example.

He died in 2022 at the age of 8. His legacy, APOPO said, is that he allowed communities in Cambodia to live, work, and play without fear of losing life or limb.

The work continues. A rat named Ronin set a Guinness World Record in 2025 for the most land mines detected by a rat in a lifetime. Magawa set the standard. Others are following.

Why This Belongs Here

This blog is about minesweeper — the game. But it has always been about something else too.

Diana walked that field in Huambo hoping the image would force people to pay attention. The minefield in Huambo is now a neighborhood with homes and schools. Progress is real. But Ukraine is being seeded with mines right now. Dozens of countries remain contaminated. The Ottawa Treaty still hasn't been signed by the United States, Russia, or China. There are mines showing up in the straight of Hormuz. There is much work ahead.

Magawa cleared 100 mines with his nose and his patience and his excellent rat composure. His APOPO program manager described him simply: "He was curious, very composed and quick at work. He knew his job."

He knew his job. He did it for five years. And now there's a seven-foot statue of him in Cambodia, carved from local stone, wearing his gold medal.

That's a good story. That's exactly the kind of story this site exists to tell.

If you'd like to support the work that Magawa gave his life to, consider donating to APOPO or the HALO Trust — the two organizations at the center of this effort.

Peace — Richard Cross and the Minesweeper Team.

The statue of Magawa was unveiled on April 4, 2026, in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Read more at Good News Network and Smithsonian Magazine.