Clearing the landmines in Cambodia

APOPO's HeroRAT teams begin their days early. This team is clearing a minefield in north-west Cambodia’s heavily landmine-affected province of Battambang. A pair of handlers, walking in safe lanes that have previously been cleared, work with a landmine detection rat that uses its sense of smell to find landmines and other explosives buried underground.
Once the rats have identified where the explosives are, they signal this to their handlers who mark the spot. These African giant pouched rats work quickly for around 30 minutes, and then rest in their travel boxes in the shade as the team's explosives experts go in. These brave men and women use metal detectors to get to the point, dig carefully, and defuse what is found. All these landmines and explosives are safely demolished by APOPO.
APOPO stands in support and solidarity for all those affected by landmines, and those working towards a world free of landmines. We are deeply grateful to our partners and partners and supporters like players of People’s Postcode Lottery, who are instrumental to the success of our landmine clearance programs and helping stop accidents; restoring safety and hope to communities living in fear.
To date, APOPO Cambodia and its animal detection teams have found and destroyed over 49,500 landmines and other explosives; and returned over 33.2 million square meters of safe land to local communities.