They had a problem in Angola: how minefields efficiently to clear,
Th grounds were full of metal scraps that with metal probers interfered.
So an enterprising fellow earned himself a bit of fame,
He came up with a solution – and the land was not the same!
There is an animal – a rodent – named a Gambian pouched rat
That can be trained to smell out scents, say, explosives, things like that,
And the rats prove to be far more reliable than men,
They clear a minefield 20 times as fast as any human can!
And they are efficient workers, seldom tiring of their task
For a better mine detector one can never, ever ask!
Furthermore, after 9 months' training, they can work for six more years,
When they go into retirement, feasting on avocados, pears.
They are giant rats, weighing up to 23 pounds,
Which is quite a hefty rodent to be having all around.
And these HeroRats, so named, can be trained for other smells:
Their latest use is, when people have tuberculosis tell.
The charity that employs them has a name: it's “Apopo,”
Its rats can smell Petri dishes at 5 per minute, as they go.
So the giant rats are doing what their relative do best:
Smelling, and becoming men's great helpers, rather than nasty pests...