Until you see it with your own eyes, you cannot fully appreciate the scope of the work done by the people of APOPO. They remove mines, they help grow food, they work with people who are now amputees due to landmines. Rats are out here healing the world
APOPO’s innovative approach to world problems using animal scent technology is groundbreaking and lifesaving. Absolutely amazing non profit!
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We are APOPO supporters of many years now. My son even made a presentation about the HeroRATs for his senior project. When you read the impact stories and see the videos, how a small rat can stop the suffering for an entire village, it makes you incredibly proud for being a part of what they do.
It sounds crazy, rats sniffing out landmines and diseases, but the proof is in the pudding. They post a yearly accounting for their work and the metrics bear out the impact of what they are doing.
We have supported APOPO since 2013. The animals and the people do so much good for the world; we tell everyone we meet about them.
I love the HeroRATs. Our family is proud to support APOPO because of their focus on ecological and environmental protection whilst saving lives. By using low tech solutions, they limit their impact on the local ecosystem which I think is brilliant.
This charity truly cares about its animals. They are treated like royalty. They also care about their donors; we have always been shown the utmost respect.
APOPO is one of those hidden gems people are always discovering. They've been around 25 years and they've continued to grow their outreach to help save lives. If you're in the US, check with them about which zoos you can go to to see real life HeroRATs in action.
This is a wonderful organization that truly lives their message. They not only work to remove landmines, they get landmine victims help and help the communities heal.
Our family have been donors to APOPO since 2014. They have excellent ratings and their financials are open to the public so you know your money is working where it needs to be.
We take it for granted that we'll never get sick with tuberculosis nor will it infect our families and friends. It's called a disease of poverty because so many undeveloped countries suffer. Bless these people who work to serve the poor
I had learned about APOPO several years ago when reading a National Geo article about these hero rats who save lives sniffing out land mines. I had always been so amazed by their abilities and intelligence and happened to have an opportunity to visit the training facility in Cambodia last year. Being able to see how these rats are trained, how well they are cared for and the 1,000’s of lives they have impacted making the land safe to farm, build, play and simply survive without fear, was so inspiring to experience.
These rats (and their handlers) are absolutely true hero’s working to make the world a safer place for everyone!
Hero rats are amazing! This nonprofit is doing great things to help people in underdeveloped communities during crisis but also advocating the truly astounding intelligence and determination of African Pouched rats! Can’t say enough amazing things about them!
They do so much with so little! Rats are inexpensive to keep and easy to train. The landmine wirk has rescued thousands of hectares of land and saved thousands of lives. The tuberculosis wotk is saving even more. And now they are helping endangered species. Despised themselves, the rats are doing more for humanity and the planet than many humans. And I love the way APOPO cares for them even in their old age, rather than exploiting and then discarding them, as is so sadly common with other animal enterprises like poultry and egg production. The rats are happy, the workers are happy, the world is happy—what’s not to love?
I’ve been supporting Apopo for years and have loved hearing of the amazing things they are doing to clear that mines and sniff out tuberculosis. This company truly stands for everything that they say they do and they do everything they stand for. Plus, I look forward to Full Cheek Friday photos every week! Keep up the good work!
We were so impressed with the care and respect shown to the rats. They are lavished with love and attention in keeping with the incredible work that each animal is doing.
We recently visited Apopo in Siem Reap in Cambodia. The visitor experience was extremely good. The staff were excellent. More and more people who come to Siem Reap as tourists to visit Angkor Wat go away learning of the important work Apopo does to remove land mines.
From the first time I read about the Hero Rats I was fascinated, and I'm proud to be a monthly donor/sponsor of Hero Rat Shuri. I love that APOPO stays in touch with updates, has a strong presence on Instagram and Twitter (where I'm active), and personalizes my experience, for example with a wonderful live Q&A on line. I love seeing them continue to expand the areas where they help, now including pangolin protection. When I retired earlier this year I had to tearfully (literally) eliminate most of my monthly contributions, but APOPO and the Hero Rats are in my budget to stay.
Dear APOPO Team,
It is now several years that I'm following your activity and share from heart your success. But yet, every time I see a post or a new testimony it fills my heart with joy. There is so much kindness and good that you and those hero rats are doing, that you could easily fill a book with such contents.
At this point, I would however like to touch a very important aspect of your work. Among so many other positive things I'd like to choose the fact that you are an example to many, many people. This gives the world hope, that not everything is money, that collaboration can totally do the job, that animals and humans can work and live together in harmony, that a sustainable model for our life on this planet is possible. In the name of all of those who are touched by your work, Thank you!
And yes, of course donations and money also contribute to the well being of these little guys ;).
Just wanted to let you know ;). Wishing the entire team all the very best, Johanna
Just wanted to state that the work done by Apopo helps a lot of people in need, and creates a safer environment for them in areas with landmines. Also the early detection of TBC patients is so essential. Keep up the great job you are all doing!
Locating landmines for removal, detecting tuberculosis, and, soon, search and rescue, too! Learn more about the HeroRATS on social media, where they share lots of behind-the-scenes and training photos and videos.
Apopo relies on donors to help fund their mission. Please consider chipping in whatever you can!
As someone who has pet Rattus rattus' and a keen interest in the intelligence of rats and their potential to help people, APOPO's aims and actions are truly inspirational.
The volunteers who train the African giant pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis, as well as the rats who carry out the work, are heroes. They deserve to be recognised for their contributions to humanity.
I love the work of Apopo - they epitomise positive partnerships between human and non-human. Saving lives And the love and care the trainers show their rats is clear to see!
Amazing I loved the work and presentation, the organisation is amazing does such important work, very good presenter
Apopo provides a very effective solution to deadly problems. I was young when i read an article about the desmineurs who gave their lives removing mines and ordnance when wars had ended. The loss of life in peacetime was terrible. TB is an ancient scourge, and many valuable lives were cut short. The teamwork between people, and countries, and also the animals to the benefit of all is lovely to see.
We love Gambian pouched rats and support the amazing work that APOPO does in order to detect and remove landmines in countries scarred by warfare, thus helping the population feel safe in their home. Man and rat together against Mines! My husband was happy to receive a sponsorship for a landmine-detecting rat for his birthday. Keep up your heroic work.
Proud to support the work this team is doing. And I really appreciate their full financial transparency on the website. Makes me feel better about donating.
It's hard to put into words how much I love Apopo and its HeroRats. Making use of the extraordinary sense of smell and intelligence of this species of rat is helping to safely clear land minds; rapidly and effectively detect tuberculosis; and help in the battle against trafficking of endangered animals. It's one of the few organizations to which I donate monthly and deserves recognition for its work.
Such an inspiring and innovative non profit. I visited their visitor centre in Cambodia a couple years ago and was so impressed to learn about everything these incredible rats (and the volunteers training and working with them!) do. Highly recommend the “rat adoption” option as a gift idea for a loved one.
My cousin introduced me to this nonprofit a few years ago, and I’ve been following it ever since. I adopted one of the rats for a year to support the cause, and found out how much amazing work they do. They truly are saving lives. It’s an amazing nonprofit that I’m proud to back.
Not only do these smart critters save lives and create jobs, they educate and shift preceptions to understanding and compassion. Apopo do remarkable things!
I've been following this organization for years. What they achieve is nothing short of miraculous. They deserve funding and assistance to rid the earth of land mines left by irresponsible war-makers, and also to detect tuberculosis quicker and faster than any other method.
Apopo is amazing. It is incredible how they train the rats to literally save lives by clearing the farmland of mines, and the TB illness. I have supported them for a few years now and find that they ask for support without being too pushy and not too often.
They are very precise and clear and open about how they treat the rats and the staff always look so happy. I have nothing but praise for this organization! Thank you to them for all that they do! Bravo!
This organization is outright wonderful - their impact on Asia and the world has been so large, and the methods they implement are innovative to say the least.
On a more personal note, my heart will forever be touched by the likes of Magawa and the rest of these Hero rats.
I love this place, those rats are amazing and very smart and clever at what they do.
Keep up the great work Appopo, you are making a huge difference around the workday
I love this charity! Rats are so smart, kind, curious, and affectionate. It is wonderful that APOPO is using our rattie friends to help humans, once again. We use rodents to experiment on and because of them, humans have effective medicines and other medical interventions. Kuddos to everyone who donates and works as a volunteer, to shine a light on how special Rats are and how they support and save human lives every day!
One of the best out there; what they’ve accomplished in Cambodia and Africa is amazing. Between landmine detection and detecting TB, Apopo and their trained ratties do wonderful work. Highly recommend.
The Hero Rats do amazing work. They are able to safely detect land mines in areas that have been damaged by war. This allows areas cleared of land mines by the hero rats to be used again by people and animals who desperately need it. They can detect tuberculosis faster than a clinical test. According to the WHO, “ Worldwide, TB is one of the top 10 causes of death and the leading cause from a single infectious agent (above HIV/AIDS).” The hero rats can detect TB without a clinical test, saving precious time that can be used to treat patients suffering from TB. The hero rats are also easier to transport to smaller, more remote communities, allowing access to TB tests for communities that can’t afford to travel to a hospital without knowing for sure that they need treatment. I have admired the hero rats for years. They truly are heroes.
I “adopted” Magawa and really loved the experience
I enjoyed getting the monthly progress reports and knowing that my donation was having an impact. I really appreciate the donor engagement Apopo does with their special webinars; keeping donors up to date on different initiatives they are working on.
I absolutely love this charity! I donate frequently and talk about it with everyone. Such cute, intelligent rats! Very creative to share their advantages for something good. The rats are treated very well too.
Apopo is an amazing organization that supports Hero Rays to use their intelligence and curiousity to sniff out disease and land mines. This important and life-saving organization is necessary to improve the wellbeing of our environment and people’s health. These rats are amazing affectionate, smart and clean animals that defy any stigma. I confidently recommend and support this organization as a worthwhile cause to support and share!
I adore this organization, even though I’ve only been able to donate once. I’m looking forward to one day being able to support them again.
Thinking about the good they do making the world safer for everyone (with a healthy side of loving rats) makes me so happy. My own pet rats light up my life so it’s not uncommon for me to stop by their site and read all about the hero rats and their coworkers’ hard work.
I have tremendous respect for the work APOPO does and their accountability and transparency to all donors. It feels good to contribute because you are given a full accounting of where your money is going.
When people think about rats in history they probably think about plague, poverty and epidemics and I was basically one of them. And one day I discovered Apopo in a documentary; Even now, when I'm writing these words, I'm smiling, thinking about how this project is really changing life for so many people, thinking how these rats became my new heroes. These animals are trained to detect landmines (don't worry, they're too light to activate landmines mechanisms) and they do it so quickly! Mozambique is now a landmines free country thanks (for a part) to these little animals and their trainers who found and deactivate more than 13,274 of these death devices. Pushing their potential even further, they're now being able to detect Tuberculosis in samples. One rat can evaluate in ten minutes more samples than a lab technician can do in one day. It takes months to educate a rat to perform these tasks but it really worth the investment. Around 80 USD a year to train and feed a hero rat, it's far cheaper than Iron Man's armor or Batman's equipment and it is way more effective.
Review from #MyGivingStory