CHB veterinarian Dr Karen Phillips recently returned from an eye-opening holiday to Cambodia where she visited a friend and fellow vet who works with highly trained rats - the size of small cats - which detect unexploded landmines.
The legacy of three decades of civil war, Cambodia is home to an estimated 4 to 6 million live landmines and other pieces of unexploded ordnance.
Dr Phillips said the landmines posed a very real risk to the farmers and people living in rural areas. Traditionally, the job of removing landmines has been carried out by people with metal detectors - "very slow and dangerous work".
"While in Cambodia recently I was lucky enough to visit the Apopo Hero Rat Centre in Siem Reap. This centre trains African Pouched rats to detect TNT in unexploded munitions and landmines."