According to its employer, the award-winning 7-year-old rodent has detected 71 mines and 38 unexploded ordnance.

Magawa is an award-winning giant African kangaroo who is about to retire five years after sniffing out landmines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia.

This 7-year-old rodent from Tanzania has been trained by the Belgian charity APOPO, which claims that Magawa has helped clear 225,000 square meters of land during his career, which is equivalent to 42 football fields.

But after 71 landmines and 38 unexploded ordnance were detected, “he was a bit tired,” Michael Hyman, the charity’s project manager in Cambodia, told AFP on Saturday.

“The best way is to retire him,” Hyman said. Hyman added that in the fall, Makawa will spend more time doing what he likes to do-eating bananas and peanuts.

The charity trained Magawa in his hometown of Tanzania to detect compounds in explosives by rewarding him with delicious food.

In 2016, he moved to Siem Reap, a city in northwestern Cambodia, where the famous Angkor temple is located, and started his bomb-sniffing career.

Last September, Rodent won This animal is equivalent to Britain’s highest civilian honor for bravery because of his incredible ability to find landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Makawa is the first mouse to receive the PDSA Medal in 77 years, adding brave canines and cats—and even a pigeon.

The charity stated: “Although he is in good health, he has reached retirement age and is obviously slowing down.”

Magawa was born in 2014 and can run in an area the size of a tennis court in just 30 minutes, while using a traditional metal detector takes four days.

He reminded the deminers by scraping the ground.

The charity said that in the fall, Makawa will spend more time doing what he likes to do-eating bananas and peanuts [File: AFP]

Although many rodents can be trained to detect odors and will receive food rewards through repetitive tasks, APOPO believes that African giant kangaroos are best suited to clear landmines because their size allows them to pass through minefields without triggering explosives. -And it does so much faster than people. They can also live up to eight years.

The charity stated that the 20 newly trained rats that arrived in Cambodia recently have just been approved by the authorities to start landmine detection.

But following in the footsteps of Zhenchuan, this will be a daunting challenge.

Hyman said that Makawa is a “very special mouse.” “Obviously, we will miss him in action.”