Bart Weetjens has been running a unique lab in Tanzania for the past seven years, where he trains rats to sniff out deadly unexploded land mines — the legacy of countless bloody conflicts.
Although dogs have traditionally been used to help humans detect mines, Weetjens realized that rats are lighter, cheaper to maintain and less susceptible to tropical disease.
He says, “I’ve always felt a very strong bonding with rodents,”
In Hero Rats, FRONTLINE/World reporter Alexis Bloom accompanies Weetjens to work in Mozambique to watch his trained rodents in action. She also visits a school there that was cleared of land mines with the help of the rats, allowing the children to resume their education and play without fear of stepping on a mine.
“They save human lives,” Weetjens says of the rats, "and, yes, they are heroes, actually."
Tags: rat, rats, landmine