Princess Diana would have endorsed this method of clearing mines if she were still alive. Initially the only way to clear land mines fields was by hand using bayonets. The hand held mine detector came next. This meant certain death to the Engineer slowly advancing through a mine field into the emplaced machine guns. After countless deaths, more mechanised methods were adopted such as the flail tank where chains were mounted on rotating drums on an armoured vehicle. Many other techniques have subsequently been employed such as pushing rollers or using dogs. Recently a brand new technique with African origins has been developed. Tell me whether you endorse this method.

Main picture: The African pouched rat hard at work sniffing out mines

From the outset, least I be accused of pointedly ignoring its one flaw, let me state that this method can only be used to clear land mines in situations where no enemy forces are covering the mine field with fire. In other words this method is only or mainly used in areas where fighting has ceased, normally old civil war battlefields such as Mozambique or Cambodia.

Mine clearing when under enemy fire

It is estimated that there are approximately nine mine related deaths per day world-wide. The current method of mine clearance in these situations involves men in body armour and face shields walking in precise lines with the modern equivalent of a WW2 Mine Detector. The major disadvantage of this method is that it is subject to continual false alarms. Any piece of metal irrespective of how minute will set off the alarm. The sensitivity of these detectors cannot be reduced otherwise the latest land mines constructed largely of plastic will not be detected.

Husky VMMD Mine Detector Vehicle

An infinitely quicker method would be the tried and tested Stalinist method. This involved using men in penal brigades walking through known mine fields.

Recently a Belgian NGO called APOPO has developed an innovative method in order to overcome limitations: the rat or to be more precise the African Pouched Rat. These rats have been trained to sniff out mines quickly and safely.

According to the literature, APOPO used this rat because it possesses an incredibly fine-tuned sense of smell and a long lifespan (8-9 years) to yield returns on the nine months of training they undergo.     These rats have been awarded the sobriquet of Hero Rats. So far not one has died in the line of duty since the program started in 1997.

The average mine requires 5 kg of weight to trigger an explosion. My German Shepherd dog, Layla, weighs 22kgs and she is certainly not overweight. In the case of these rats, even the biggest ones weigh only around 1.5 kg putting them well below the threshold. Of course the combatants could set the trigger to set off the explosion at such a low weight but this would mean that all manner of small animals and even birds would activate them.

There is another advantage in their deployment. Since they are trained to sniff out explosives exclusively, they will not be distracted by other metal objects the way human minesweepers are.

They can effectively search 200 square meters in less than 20 minutes.     A team of humans would need around 25 hours to do the same job.

Since they are in the African sun a lot, the Hero Rats get sunscreen to keep them cancer free.

APOP has assured animal lovers that if a rat does get cancer, it will receive full medical treatment.

The rats are “paid” in avocados, peanuts, bananas and other healthy treats.

After about 4-5 years on the job (or whenever they lose interest in working), they are allowed to retire.     Retirement consists of eating all the tasty fruit their little hero heart’s desire.

APOPO is now even training these rats to detect diseases such as TB. Hopefully cancer will be the next disease which their sensitive noses will be trained to detect.

Thanks to Elbert Loubser for informing me about these creatures on one of our races & Wikipedia & Google for providing additional information.