Phnom Penh: They are one of the most loathsome creatures, responsible for the deaths of millions of people during the Black Death and plagues of past centuries.
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But rats have begun eliminating a scourge that has killed and maimed tens of thousands of people in Cambodia: land mines.
Huge, cat-sized rodents with bad vision but an extraordinary sense of smell are sniffing out TNT explosives in mine fields laid by the murderous Khmer Rouge in north-western Cambodia in the 1980s.
And Paul McCarthy, a 10-year veteran of the war in Iraq who is managing the so-called "HeroRat" program, says rats could be used to detect improvised explosive devices that have been used with devastating impact against military and civilian targets, including Australian forces, in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"They are already saving lives in Cambodia," he says.
"Villagers are excited about farming their land again – you can see the light in their faces."
Only days after beginning work in fields around a village near the tourist town of Siem Reap, 14 African giant pouched rats have cleared more than 15,000 square metres of land, sniffing out deadly Chinese-made anti-personnel mines.
Each of the darting super-sniffers connected to a harness can clear an area of 200 square metres in 20 minutes which a mine detector would take one to four days to complete.
When the rats detect explosives they stop and scratch at the surface, allowing the site to be marked for demolition.
Averaging 1 kilogram, the Tanzanian-born rats are light enough to scurry over mines without setting them off, and their noses find the explosives quickly.
The method is more efficient than metal detectors because the rats are trained only to sniff out TNT rather than any metal object.
They are cheaper to train than dogs and work literally for peanuts – as well as bananas, water melons, apples, carrots, potatoes and special multivitamins.
But they are unable to search in dense vegetation and only capable of short shifts in Cambodia's tropical heat.
The training is not easy because unlike dogs rats don't respond to verbal commands and from infancy they must learn how to be around humans.
Another downside is that they only live about eight years, which means a lot of training for an animal with a relatively short life span.
Mr McCarthy, a former British army demolition expert, admits there is some scepticism about the arrival of the furry whiskered rodents in Cambodia.
In the early stages of the program, staff of the Belgian non-profit organisation APOPO, or Anti-Personnel Land Mines Detection Product, are going back over the rat-sniffed ground to ensure they have not missed any mines.
"We are not claiming the rats will be able to clear every mine. But they are an effective tool, along with sniffer dogs, metal detectors and mechanical methods," Mr McCarthy says.
Rats have been used to help clear minefields in Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola for more than 10 years.
The Belgian organisation last year imported eight male and six female rats to Cambodia where they underwent nine months of training, supported by the Cambodian Mine Action Centre.
Like dogs, they receive a food reward for successful efforts.
"We socialise them by carrying them around with us all day – they are introduced to the scents and noises of flowers, vehicles, people, clothes and other things," says Sok Heng Hull, one of APOPO's handlers.
"By the time the rats are working in the minefields they are very clam and easy to manage," he says.
Mr McCarthy says the rats were sterilised before being flown to Cambodia, ensuring a non-indigenous animal will not be introduced into the country.
APOPO is advertising sponsorships for future mine-clearing rats, offering donors the opportunity to name them and follow their progress.
Since 1979 an estimated 67,000 people have been killed or injured by landmines in Cambodia, a country wracked by genocide and years of civil war.
There are more than Cambodian 25,000 mine amputees, the highest ratio per capita in the world.
And with an estimated six million mines still in the ground, de-mining organisations say a mine accident still occurs in the country every two and a half days on average.
Cambodian villager Khun Mao told the Associated Press he has been too afraid for years to cultivate a rice field where the rats have been sniffing for mines.
He says that while it is too soon to say whether the rodents can remove every mine: "to me these rats are wonderful".
