APOPO HeroRATs

Hello it´s me, the Giunea Pig Prince!

Today I will give you a clue in case you need a special gift for a special person. 

Not that sort that includes a lot of calories or hodgepodge that collects dust. Something completely different!

It was in January when I red a magazine. I prefer scientific journals of course but there was none available at that moment.

But I found a very interesting article about the Giant African Pouched Rats. I will share this information with you.

The article was about APOPO HeroRATs.

Far away in Morogoro,Tanzania, Africa, is a training center where Giant African Pouched Rats were trained to detect explosives, landmines and also to indentify positive tuberculosis samples.

Did you know?

This is one of the trainees. Elvis. 
This kind of rat can grow up to three feeds long. And look at his whiskers. WOW!

Another trainee sniffing for treats.

 They start their training at the age of four weeks.

Here you see the school bus that brings them to the training field.

Training brings it to perfection:

Sniffing out TNT and scratching to attract the trainers attention.

BabyHeroRats, dreaming of a succsessful career as live-saving sniffers.

HeroRATs are saving live and limbs. 

Since 2008 they found thousands of unexploded landmines

and cleaned big areas

 that could be given back to the rural population.

My favorite photo.

This is Bart Weetjens, founder of APOPO, who discovered the enormous sense of smell of the Giant African Pouched Rats. Once when he was a child he got a hamster. And that starts a longstanding fascination with rodants.

Hero meets Hero..

Wonderful Dr. Jane Goodall came for a visit to the training center last week.

So to support APOPO and the HeroRATs Mom adopted Blossom as a birthday gift for her daughter.

Wait. Moms daughter is my sister. Does that mean I´m related to a Giant African Pouche Rat? Maybe I am the AUNT?
NO WAIT I´M the UNCLE!

OMG I´m confused with this type of relationsships!

With our help Blossom will have training to do a priceless job. We receive regular updates and informations from her. She is working from monday to friday, gets healthy food and medical care. She is good treated and respected by the humans surrounding her.
Get more informations and have your own HeroRat at.

APOPO HeroRATs