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from the I-award-you-the-Order-of-the-Rat dept.
Rats trained to sniff out landmines in Cambodia
Unexploded devices said to have killed nearly 20,000 Cambodians and wounded 44,000 since 1979
Pit, only two and with just one eye, needed only 11 minutes before he detected a deadly mine buried in a Cambodian field, work that humans with metal detectors could have taken up to five days to investigate. But Pit is not human. He is part of a team of elite rats, imported from Africa, that Cambodia is training to sniff out landmines that still dot the countryside after decades of conflict.
"Under a clear sky, he would have been quicker," said Hul Sokheng, a veteran Cambodian deminer, who oversees training of 12 handlers on how to work with 15 large rats to clear Cambodia's farmland and rural villages of bombs. "These are life-saving rats," he said under rainy skies.
Their work could prove vital in a country where unexploded devices, including mines and unexploded shells, have killed nearly 20,000 Cambodians and wounded about 44,000 since 1979, according to the Cambodian government. Pit is able to smell highly explosive TNT inside landmines, watched over by two handlers who tie him up to a rope as the one-eyed rat searches through the grass.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rats-trained-to-sniff-out-landmines-in-cambodia-1.3149277?cmp=rss
This particular story is "current events", sure enough - but I did a search for these rats and found several other, older stories.
http://www.vice.com/read/this-ngo-trains-giant-rats-to-clear-mine-fields-182
This story is especially interesting, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/07/herorats.detect.landmines/index.html. "Nailing down the regimen was tricky. At one point in APOPO's early days, the rats performed perfectly in trials, making Weetjens suspicious. It turned out the rats were outsmarting the humans."
Oh, not just explosives, but diseases too: http://www.occupyforanimals.net/rats---the-apopo-herorats-detect-landmines-and-tuberculosis.html
Lots more stories here: https://www.apopo.org/en/. So - can we expect to see TSA handlers walking around our airports, with rats on leashes soon?
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday July 14 2015, @12:01PM
I've noticed the dilution of the word hero over the course of my life, when I was a kid it meant that someone consciously decided to go above and beyond the required risks and was gloriously successful. In 2015, all it means is someone wears a uniform of any sort or they're a trained rat.
I'm not saying no heros exist anymore, just saying if I were one I'd be pretty pissed off about being compared to a mere trained rat or some cop who bravely shoots unarmed black dudes in the back. If the stereotypical daydream of "superheros now exist" came true, the assumption is they're be in a good mood, but I suspect reality in 2015 is they're be super-pissed-off about being compared to a F-ing trained rat.
Trained rats are cool and save lives, but they're not heros. They're trained rats.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:17PM
Thank you for your brave words. You are a true patriot.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:30PM
We live in a time when the average human finds the irrational satisfaction of feeling safe due to the totally unrelated-to-security act of being groped after queueing for hours before boarding a plane... that's no longer training, that's reflex conditioning
While the meaning of hero is indeed diluted, the trained rat shows more self-determination than the humans; therefore, maybe "hero" is deserved in the context... perhaps even to the point of making a role model from a trained rat.
(enough. I should go to sleep before my acute misanthropy attack gets out of hand).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:42PM
This hero business started with 9/11.
Military, Cops (yes good cops, bad cops, whatever you want to argue), firemen, ems, and all other emergency response peoples do qualify for the title. Though, to be fair, they voluntarily signed up for the task (draft excluded of course) and get paid.
Though I do 100% agree, the meaning is being cheapened. I always thought of a hero as someone who went above and beyond their normal lives to do something extraordinary. Like a passerby jumping into a river to save someone from drowning. Or a person who voluntarily guides a person through life and helps them through a difficult situation.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @03:43PM
You're another of those diluting the meaning of hero. Cops and most military people do not qualify automatically as heroes.
If cops weren't cowards SWATing wouldn't be dangerous for their targets. Plenty more people would still be alive and whole today too if cops weren't too cowardly to put their life on the line to serve and protect. Instead they maim or kill children and unarmed adults.
Most soldiers just follow orders blindly. Is your gun a hero just because it reliably fires a bullet whenever you pull the trigger? No, thus most soldiers aren't heroes.
This guy is a hero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9o_Major#The_first_Distinguished_Conduct_Medal [wikipedia.org]
He's no mere stupid obedient weapon - in many cases he used his brains, judgement and conscience like a hero and didn't follow orders blindly. Instead he captured an entire city/town and thus saved it from being shelled. He didn't just go around mindlessly killing all his enemies either in a number of cases he got them to surrender.
See also: http://www.kvacanada.com/stories_taportraits.htm [kvacanada.com]
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday July 14 2015, @05:32PM
Read the entire post first before writing a knee jerk reaction.
If you read my post you would have realized that I pointed out why people use the term hero when talking about emergency response personnel. The basic definition can be applied to them if you want to be technical. I then pointed out that I too agree with the dilution of the term.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday July 14 2015, @05:35PM
but I suspect reality in 2015 is they're be super-pissed-off about being compared to a F-ing trained rat.
In 2015? After so many decades, they would finally have someone else to put the blame on for all the property damage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @09:46PM
There is no heroes. There is no meaning