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APOPO

@herorats

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For +25 years we have tackled landmines and tuberculosis around the world using trained African giant pouched rats and other scent-detection animals.

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Never thought I’d hold a rat - but I made an exception for this furry fella.  While Cambodia is a stunning country with the kindest of people, sadly it has a very heart-wrenching and dark recent past that saw it bludgeoned by the brutal hands of the Khmer Rough from 1975 to 1979.
Millions of landmines made a quarter of Cambodia’s countryside a danger zone. Even today tens of thousands of these mines remain buried in the ground. That’s where these creatures come into play.  Highly trained, these African rats can sniff out explosives far quicker than a metal detector can.  They have uncovered thousands of explosives, allowing the land to gradually be returned to farmers.  Saying that - it’s the tail that still gets me.
@herorats #solotraveller❤️ #cambodiatravel

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“Nina” one of the Hero Rats at APOPO visitor centre Siem Reap, Cambodia. She is an African Giant Pouched Rat specialy trained to detect landmines and unexploded ordnance to help clear dangerous rural land in Cambodia 🇰🇭 #herorats #cambodia #siemreap #landmine @herorats

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APOPO is a non-profit organization that trains African giant pouched rats (called HeroRATs) and technical survey dogs (HeroDOGs) to use their powerful sense of smell for humanitarian tasks, including clearing landmines, detecting tuberculosis, aiding in disaster search and rescue and sniffing out illegal wildlife products like ivory, rhino horn, and pangolin scales.

@herorats

#inktober #inktober2026 #inktober2026day21 #inktober2026day21hero #inktober2026hero

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Pest. Vermin. Something to fear. That’s what we’re taught to see. Magawa found 71 landmines, made more than 225,000 m² of Cambodia safe and won a gold medal usually given to dogs. Now rats like him are being tested on sniffing out smuggled rhino horn and pangolin scales. It makes you wonder how many quiet heroes we’ve overlooked, simply because of how we were taught to see them.

Images: APOPO.

#wildlifeconservation #rhinoconservation #herorats #animalheroes

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🐀💛 Meet Nina, a retired bomb-sniffing rat we had the pleasure of meeting at APOPO in Siem Reap!

APOPO trains these incredible little heroes to detect landmines and unexploded bombs, helping make communities safer in Cambodia and around the world. Their extraordinary sense of smell saves lives and helps people reclaim land that has been too dangerous to use for generations.

Nina may be retired, but her contribution is part of an incredible mission. Proof that heroes come in all sizes! 🇰🇭❤️

#APOPO #Cambodia #LandmineClearance #HeroRats #kounkhmerfoundation

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By far one of my favorite things I did while in Siem Reap was visit the hero rats of Cambodia at the APOPO visiting center. Be sure to stop by on your way to or from Angkor Wat and give them a hug for me 🥹🐀

APOPO Visitor Center
Koumai Road Siem Reap, 17253, Cambodia

#cambodia #siemreap #familytravel #ratsofinsta

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Організації MAG, APOPO та ГО "Асоціація саперів України" з радістю зустріли Пітера Вагнера, керівника служби з питань інструментів зовнішньої політики ЄС, та презентували результати нашої спільної роботи, спрямованої на вдосконалення методології використання собак технічного обстеження та зміцнення стійкості місцевих партнерів у сфері протимінної діяльності в Україні.
Цей візит також став нагодою для відкритої дискусії про виклики, з якими ми стикаємося, та про те, як можливо й надалі розвивати цю роботу.
І, звісно, жоден візит не був би повноцінним без знайомства з українськими традиціями. Нашим гостям запропонували мед, зібраний на полях, очищених від мін, — невеликий, але значущий приклад того, що стає можливим завдяки протимінній діяльності.
Дякуємо нашим партнерам за постійну підтримку, довіру та відкритий діалог. Разом ми зміцнюємо потенціал України у сфері протимінної діяльності та працюємо над тим, щоб зробити громади безпечнішими.
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MAG, APOPO and UDA were pleased to welcome Peter Wagner, Head of Service for the EU Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), and present the achievements of our joint work to strengthen Technical Survey Dog (TSD) methodology and local partner resilience in mine action in Ukraine.
The visit also provided an opportunity for an open discussion about the challenges we face, and how we can continue building on this work.
And, of course, no visit would be complete without a taste of Ukraine. Our guests were treated to honey collected from fields that have been cleared of mines — a small but meaningful reminder of what mine action makes possible.
Thank you to our partners for their continued support, trust and open dialogue. Together, we are strengthening Ukraine’s mine action capacity and working towards safer communities.
European Commission

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Lots to catch up on! First up is the @wildnetorg expo. Dasher helped me out at the @pangolincrisis booth and I think he had as much fun, if not more fun than I did at the expo!

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The @wildnetorg WCN Expo is such a great place to get super special, unique gifts, AND support amazing causes! You always have to budget to spend more than you originally planned, and just accept it. 😆

#conservation #conservationeducation

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Join us tomorrow for the release of a very special video. Special guests, talented animals and some surprises!

#animalheroeshalloffame #ahhof #pets #AnimalHeroes #celebration

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Of course we checked off some of the big bucket list items. And then there were the special little moments to experience the local culture. 🇰🇭

We stayed in one place the whole time. That meant we got to know the local restaurants and see the same faces over and over. Tevy’s. Haven. A lot of these restaurants have amazing stories behind them. It stopped feeling like visiting and started feeling like home away from home.

I even had a capsule wardrobe custom made at Doon. Doon was created so women can have access to fair paid jobs in good working conditions, where they choose how many hours they work and where they work from.

We visited APOPO, where rats are trained to sniff out landmines. They’re light enough that they don’t set them off, and they’re helping clear land so families can safely farm and live on it again. Rats. Saving lives.

Tuk tuk adventures. 😂

Massages galore. 🪷

Apsara theater tells stories through every dance. Slow and methodical, every movement means something. 🎶

And Phare Circus just felt real. There were a few little mistakes here and there, but it was so fun and full of energy. You could tell the performers were having a good time too. 🎪

Finding the nuances and the energy of a place is what makes a trip really special. That’s what I’m always after. 🦋

Apsara theater tells stories through every dance. Slow and methodical, every movement means something.

And Phare Circus just felt real. There were a few little mistakes here and there, but it was so fun and full of energy. You could tell the performers were having a good time too. 🎪

Finding the nuances and the energy of a place is what makes a trip really special. That’s what I’m always after. 🌿✨

#Cambodia #TraverseBeyond #CulturalImmersion

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