Cambodia is still dotted with abandoned ammunition and weapons during civil conflicts between the 1960s and 1998 and rodents serve for the detection of mines.
A rodent established a world record when smelling more than a hundred mines in Cambodia, a country still a victim of these artifacts due to decades of civil conflicts. Ronin, 5, located 109 mortal land mines and 15 other explosive artifacts since its deployment in the province of Preah Vihear north of Cambodia in August 2021, said the Belgian beneficial organization Apopo in a statement.
“His outstanding feats made him deserve the title of the world’s world records, which highlights the fundamental role that these rodents play in the humanitarian demining tasks,” Apopo said. Ronin exceeded the achievements of a mouse called Magawa, who detected 71 antipersonnel mines and 38 artifacts without detonating during his five years of activity, before retiring in 2021.
Magawa died the following year, after receiving the gold medal for heroism for having declined approximately 225,000 square meters of land, equivalent to 42 soccer fields. It is estimated that Ronin could still have two years or more of detection work ahead, according to Apopo.
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FIELD LIBRARY.
Deaths to the causes of mines
According to official data, around 20,000 people have lost their lives due to mines without detonating and other old military artifacts since 1979, and twice that figure was injured. In February, two two -year -old children died in Cambodia after the explosion of a Granada, who had apparently remained buried since the time of the civil conflict, near their home in the northwest of the province of Siem Reap.
The promise of the Cambodian government
Cambodia had set the goal of cleaning his entire mines territory by 2025. But he had to postpone the deadline in five years due to the lack of funds and the discovery of new areas undermined on the Thai border. Since the 80s, the Japanese government collaborates in the collective construction of peace in Cambodia, so that there are no more wars and can extract all mines from the Cambodia soil.
Source: Ambito
