A famous mine-clearing rat, who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism, has been commemorated with the world's first statue dedicated to a landmine-detecting rat.

Magawa, who lived to eight years old, sniffed out over 100 landmines and other explosives in Cambodia during his five-year career that started in 2016.

A statue of the rodent carved from local stone by artists was unveiled in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Friday, in time for the International Day for Mine Awareness on 4 April.

Landmines remain an ongoing risk to Cambodia, and more than a million people continue to work and live on land contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance, according to the United Nations.

Magawa was trained by the Belgian charity Apopo and moved to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career in 2016. Utilizing his acute sense of smell to detect a chemical compound present in explosives, he would alert his human handlers to the presence of mines, allowing for safe removal.

During his time, Magawa cleared over 141,000 square meters of land, equivalent to twenty football pitches, and could search a tennis court-sized field in just 20 minutes. In 2020, he became the first rat to receive the PDSA Gold Medal, an honor often likened to the George Cross, recognizing his life-saving devotion to duty.

Following a short retirement due to age and slowing down, Magawa died in 2022. Apopo's Cambodia Programme Manager, Michael Raine, emphasized that the monument serves as a reminder that much work remains to be done in demining Cambodia, which has set a target date of 2030 to achieve a mine-free status.

The charity has been training HeroRATS since the 1990s, as their small size makes them incapable of detonating mines, rendering them a safer alternative to human mine-clearers.

In addition to demining efforts, these trained rats can identify tuberculosis more quickly than traditional lab methods and are even being utilized to help combat illegal wildlife trafficking in Tanzania.

Recently, another Apopo-trained rat, named Ronin, set a new record for detecting landmines in Cambodia, surpassing Magawa’s previous achievements.