Rats that can sniff out mines?

The mine-detecting rodents can clear a 200 square metre area in Cambodia in 20 minutes. Photo / Supplied

CHB veterinarian Dr Karen Phillips recently returned from an eye-opening holiday to Cambodia where she visited a friend and fellow vet who works with highly trained rats - the size of small cats - which detect unexploded landmines.

The legacy of three decades of civil war, Cambodia is home to an estimated 4 to 6 million live landmines and other pieces of unexploded ordnance.

Dr Phillips said the landmines posed a very real risk to the farmers and people living in rural areas. Traditionally, the job of removing landmines has been carried out by people with metal detectors - "very slow and dangerous work".

"While in Cambodia recently I was lucky enough to visit the Apopo Hero Rat Centre in Siem Reap. This centre trains African Pouched rats to detect TNT in unexploded munitions and landmines."

The African Pouched rats are the size of a small cat, and cost $US6000 to train. Photo / Dr Karen Phillips

Dr Phillips said the rats worked in a grid system and are attached to a line by a harness, while two trainers work them across a field.

The rats are trained to sniff out explosives and signal to their handlers when they find them.

The area is then marked, rechecked and a bomb disposal crew called in to remove deal any unexploded mines, she said.

"These mine detection rats can clear a 200sq m area in 20 minutes, an area which would take a technician with a metal detector between one and four days [to clear]. Every rat has to be certified that they can work at a certain rate and make no more than two false positive finds. These rats are large - about the size of a small cat, and are highly trained. Each rat is worth about US$6000 and they will keep working for up to seven years. They form a close bond with their handlers and work better for some than others," she said.

With the help of the rats, July 2017 was the first month since 1979 that there were no landmine casualties in Cambodia.