Incredible. Rats Saving Thousands Of Lives From Death By land Mine.

It's difficult to quantify the scourge of land mines in Africa. Experts are reluctant to give statistics, but it's safe to say there are single countries hosting millions of them.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines says land mines and related devices were responsible for 73,576 casualties worldwide from 1999 to 2009. Campaign data f More..rom 2007 say there were 5,426 recorded casualties, with almost a fifth of them in 24 African countries.

Death and injury, however, are only two ramifications of the buried terrors, said land mine expert Havard Bach, formerly of the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining.

Unexploded ordnance renders roads, highways and enormous swaths of land useless, Bach said. Fear lingers for years after a single accident, holding back growth, movement, development and opportunities for commerce and aid.

"One mine in an area is enough to prevent an entire population from making use of it," he said.

In a land where resources are scarce, Weetjens felt rats were suited to the task -- but he had to get past people laughing at his plan. Bach said he kept an open mind.

"I just thought it was a strange idea," Bach said. "You come across a lot of silly ideas that never result in anything when you work in this industry."
2009 By The Numbers
1.3 million -- Square meters of Mozambican minefield returned to population

44,547 -- Estimated beneficiaries of APOPO's mine clearance activities

3,871 -- Small arms and ammo neutralized

350 -- Mines and other ordnance neutralized

23,624 -- Number of samples tested for tuberculosis

561 -- Cases of TB detected

8,415 -- Estimated number of TB transmissions prevented

123 -- Staff employed

109 -- Rats bred

60 -- Rats accredited for mine detection

1.18 -- Dollars it cost to clear a square meter of minefield

Source: APOPO's annual report

Upon study, the rats' advantages emerged.

Their olfactory senses are superb. They're native to Africa, so tropical disease is no problem, and they don't grow heavier than the 3 to 10 kilograms required to trip a mine, Bach said. It also helps that the mine-sniffing rats are not bonded to individual trainers or prone to ennui, as dogs are, he said.

"If you compare them to canine mine detectors, it's pretty much the same in terms of sensitivity and capability," Bach said, noting that dogs are better equipped to work in brush or high grass that might conceal a rat.

"Rats are not going to oust dogs in this industry, but it's a very positive complement," he added. "You could say they work for peanuts."

Indeed, said Weetjens, cost is especially an advantage in Africa. It takes limited skill and only six to eight months to train a rat -- or a year for the "slow" rats because "some rats are smarter than others," said trainer Mushi, who oversees 14 rats.

The cost to train a rat is 6,000 euros ($7,700), roughly a third of what it costs to train a dog. Where dogs need expansive kennel facilities and regular veterinary care because of African climates, APOPO's kennel facilities at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania, can house up to 300 rats. The rats see a single vet once a week and are much easier to transport than dogs, Weetjens said.

Training begins with socialization when the rats are 4 weeks old because "it's really important they learn man are friends," Weetjens said.

 

A system of "operant conditioning" follows. Trainers teach the rodents to associate a clicking noise with something tasty: a banana or peanuts. The same treats are used to teach them how to signal when they find a mine and how to detect the scent of TNT in tea balls.

The final phase before they're shipped to Mozambique for accreditation includes several trial runs in APOPO's training minefields, some of which contain tea balls, others live mines.

Nailing down the regimen was tricky. At one point in APOPO's early days, the rats performed perfectly in trials, making Weetjens suspicious. It turned out the rats were outsmarting the humans.

"They knew which samples had been touched by the trainers," he said. "We have to remain extremely vigilant not to bring in additional cues that help the animal find out what the rewarding samples are."

It hasn't been easy convincing the international community that mine-sniffing rats are viable, but donors are coming around. A partners list once consisting solely of Antwerp University and the Belgian government now includes about 30 groups, including the U.N. Development Program, World Bank Development Marketplace and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship