Hero Rats (Herorats) Find Landmines and Tuberculosis by Smell and save Lives: people get certified training rodents

When you imagine a HeroRAT (tm), you may think of a little rodent wearing a cape, saving lives. In real life, HeroRAT save lives, but they don't wear capes. If they wear anything, they wear a special harness.

They save lives by detecting land mines, and by detecting tuberculosis. And they do that by their keen sense of smell. 

These are not ordinary rats. These are African giant pouched rat or ‘Cricetomys gambianus’. They weigh between 0.7 and 1.5 kg, and their average body length is 30-40 cm, excluding the tail of 40 cm. They have been picked and bred specifically for the operations in Africa. Being endemic to Africa, they are less susceptible to native diseases unlike imported animals. And they are very gentle and docile. 

And the HeroRATs have one major advantage over dogs: their noses are near the ground all the time. Their eyesight is poor so they must rely on their sense of smell to survive in the wild. And it is this ability that is being utilized to save lives. 

“Landmines are among the most barbaric weapons of war, because they continue to kill and maim innocent people long after the war itself has ended. Also, fear of them keeps people off the land, and thus prevents them from growing food.”
– Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary-General

A team of about 30 HeroRATs and their handlers, along with a support team of drivers, staff, researchers, follow-up demining engineers and technicians, explosive experts, and others have been working the Gaza Province of Mozambique cleaning up after the conflict there since 2006. The organization APOPO (a Dutch anti-landmine organization) is the chief funder behind the operation. To date, they have cleared and returned over 2 MILLION square meters of land to the inhabitants. 

UN figures shows that there are about 6000 casualties per year from landmines (which is significantly down from over 10000 in the 1990's). It is also estimated that 32% of the victims are children, according to the same UN figures. APOPO organizer related a story in Mozambique where a single mine casualty near a well caused an entire village of 25000 to become refugees. A total effort of mine clearing teams later only discovered 3 more mines in the area. It is a terror weapon, and it needs to be cleared. However, the cost and effort is almost prohibitive. A typical mine detection dog costs $10000 to $20000 Euros, and requires a trainer/handler. Even at the most efficient, it costs over $2 to clear one square meter. 

HeroRATs are unique in that it only costs about $6000 Euros to train one HeroRAT for mine detection, which is about one half to one third of the cost of an mine detection dog. Also, a rat, even a large one, is far less likely to set off a mine, even if by accident, than a dog, which can weigh similar to a small child. It is estimated by APOPO that the HeroRATs have reduced the cost of mine clearly to about $1.2 per square meter (40% less than previous methods), and the cost can go even lower if they scale up the operation. 

And yes, these HeroRATs do get certified in mine detection. Yes, there is an agency that certifies mine detection animals. And yes, they are TESTED.

The handlers are all trained locals who have dedicated their life to saving their countrymen and for a better tomorrow.

If you want to help, you can adopt one of these adorable African Giant Pouched Rats (by remote, as they are needed where they are), by visiting the Adopt a HeroRAT website. Suggested donation is $5 Euro a month, which buys the HeroRATs a lot of peanuts.

Watch the TED video presentation at the end for more information.

Tuberculosis, or TB, is a significant health hazard in Africa, where hundreds of millions are infected and 1 in 10 will become seriously ill. Most cases are not detected until they are nearly fatal, and only after they have infected many others when they are contagious. It is estimated that every TB-infected person, if left untreated can infect 10-15 people per year EACH.

The current method of TB detection has not changed over 100 years: sputum is collected and examined under a microscope. It is slow, costly, and not that accurate. A lab technician can examine about 40 samples a day, which isn't much. In Tanzania, estimates show that less than half of active TB cases were detected.

Enter the HeroRATs, whose keen sense of smell helps... Because tuberculosis causes a change in the exhaled breath of the infected. It was described as "tar-like" smell.

A trained HeroRAT can do 40 samples in about 7 minutes, instead of a full day.

Right now a team of HeroRATs is used as a secondary screener in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, population 500,000. The samples given by locals for testing were retested by the HeroRATs to screen out any 'false negatives', i.e. where they should have been detected, but were not. Every month, 5 to 10 people were asked back for more screening when the HeroRATs indicated their sputum have problems when the microscopy did not.

The technique works. It is up to a full scientific research and engineering to turn this into a more reliable faster and scientifically accurate system that can be used as a first-line detection, instead of merely a backstop secondary check.

Rodents are not always pests and pets. They can serve vital functions to better human lives. Here we have seen two interesting examples on how that is done. What may the future hold?