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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: 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.