I love stories about animals. We often forget that this is their world, too. Sometimes – many times! – they make this a better world for human beings, too.
This particular post is about a brave brave rat named Magawa who sniffed out unexploded ordinace, including live landmines, in Cambodia, saving countless lives. His work over five years covered 2.4 million square feet of land. (Ten times that much area in little rat feets.) The Hill had a fun story about him, “Hero rat that sniffed out over 70 land mines retires.”
The organization that trained Magawa is called APOPO, the Dutch acronym letters for Anti Personnel Landmines Product Development. Kind of a cold, cruel, impersonal way to label a brave little rat. Well, at least they gave him a medal and will provide for his comfy retirement.
Yes, I’ll probably get in trouble at home, with my two cats Beve and Oscar, for featuring a post about – OMG – rats! In the interests of domestic tranquility, I had to post this link to a story about a shelter in Chicago, releasing over 1,000 cats to combat a rat problem.
__________
Excerpted from Going Green, available as an eBook at this list of eBook retailers online.
