Скачать или смотреть Land mines, disaster recovery and TB no match for Tanzanian ‘hero rats’

(4 Sep 2025)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Morogoro, Tanzania – 29 July 2025

1. Various of African giant pouched rats doing their morning training in sniffing and detecting bombs in a large training area
2. Wide of APOPO building
3. Mid rat trainer with an African giant pouched rat named Mophias
4. Various of an African giant pouched rat named Mophias undergoing training to detect positive samples of TB
5. Close of up syringes filled with banana puree for treats
6. Various of an African giant pouched rat named Mophias undergoing training to detect positive samples of TB
7. Close of tub with possible TB sample for the rat to detect
8. Various of a rat named Mophias undergoing training to detect positive samples of TB
9. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Sophia Madinda, Rat trainer:
"We have positive samples which we know, and negative samples. The rat has to show us the positive samples and read for the set time. After succeeding, the rat moves on to the next stage, where it begins the actual work.”

10. Various of Sophia Madinda, rat trainer, sitting attentively recording Mophias' performance during training
11. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Sophia Madinda, Rat trainer:
"When I first came to APOPO, honestly, I was afraid of them, but later, as I got used to them, I saw that they are creatures you can live with well, and they can also get used to you and work with you.”

12. Various of the TB clinic in Morogoro Municipal Hospital
13. Various Felista Stanesloaus, working in her office
14. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Felista Stanesloaus, Head of TB Clinic:
"Because what they do is take samples which the healthcare provider or our laboratories failed to detect TB in, and test them. In those samples, we often find people who have TB, so they help us in identifying TB cases.”

15. Various of laboratory technicians continuing TB testing work
16. Various of Christophe Cox working in his office
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Cox, CEO APOPO:
"We have found over 30 thousand patients which were basically sent home saying 'you're negative' and 30,000 patients, if you consider each can infect 10 to 15 people per year, that is also preventing 300 to 400 thousand secondary infections.”

18. Various of laboratory technicians continuing TB testing work
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Cox, CEO APOPO:
"Somebody who invests in the TB program, all the money which goes in goes to the people—the people training the rats and their families and their kids. If you invest in a program let's say using GeneXpert cartridges , you know, let’s say, you will use a lot of money—80% of your project’s fund will go direct to the U.S. to the companies I mean which produced those cartridges.”

20. Various of African giant pouched rats undergoing rescue training in disaster areas, especially specialized training for collapsed buildings or underground debris
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Fabrizio Dell'Anna, Rat Trainer:
"They are small and so they can penetrate rubble—such a thing search and rescue dogs cannot do. Dogs can only smell from the surface of the debris. They can carry a small backpack that allows the operators outside the debris to communicate with the victim.”

22. Wide of training building
23. Various of search and rescue African giant pouched rats training on a table
STORYLINE:
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They're known as 'hero rats' - and for good reason.

In Tanzania African giant pouched rats are being trained to sniff out landmines, diseases and even humans buried under rubble.

They have a highly sensitive sense of smell, which makes them invaluable during lifesaving missions.

STORYLINE :














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