Gold medal for bravery awarded to Magawa the bomb-sniffing rat

The hero rodent has helped landmine charity to root out deadly explosive devices in Cambodia

Landmine rat
An Apopo landmine detection rat being trained in Tanzania
(Image credit: Carl De Souza/AFP via Getty Images)

Rats often get a bad rap, but now one heroic rodent is being hailed for his work in sniffing out landmines in Cambodia.

Magawa, an African giant pouched rat, has been presented with the PDSA veterinary charity’s Gold Medal - described by The Guardian as the “animal equivalent of the George Cross” - for detecting a total of 39 landmines and 28 unexploded munitions in the formerly war-torn Southeast Asian country. The miniature medal is inscribed with the words: “For animal gallantry or devotion to duty.”

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Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.