We help to train animals to save lives.
How You Can Help
- Simply book your next holiday with Charitable Travel and tell us you want to support APOPO UK. The charity will then benefit from the free donation you can make as part of the booking process. To read more about how this works, head to our ‘About Us‘ page.
- If you want to make a donation to APOPO UK and you are not booking a holiday, click here.
- Sign up here for APOPO’s newsletter, and receive regular updates about our international projects.
How You Can Help
- Simply book your next holiday with Charitable Travel and tell us you want to support APOPO UK. The charity will then benefit from the free donation you can make as part of the booking process. To read more about how this works, head to our ‘About Us‘ page.
- If you want to make a donation to APOPO UK and you are not booking a holiday, click here.
- Sign up here for APOPO’s newsletter, and receive regular updates about our international projects.
Overview - About Apopo UK
APOPO UK works in partnership with award-winning APOPO vzw and is their official UK representative organisation. APOPO UK raises awareness and resources to enable the training of African giant pouched rats known as HeroRATs, as well as Technical Survey Dogs. These trained animals save lives using their highly developed sense of smell, most notably for landmine and tuberculosis detection. Other APOPO innovation projects involve using HeroRATs for search and rescue missions, helping to detect and prevent illegal trafficking of endangered species, and detecting soil pollutants.
The Scale of the Problem and Our Solution
Landmines: More than sixty countries across the world are contaminated with landmines and other explosive remnants of war. These hidden explosives predominantly endanger and cause tragic accidents in lower-income rural communities, preventing farmers from working their otherwise productive land. These limitations mean that many people live in poverty as a result. Landmines also threaten livestock and wildlife in affected regions.
A trained APOPO HeroRAT can sniff out hidden explosives in an area the size of a tennis court in just 30 minutes. The same job can take up to four days with traditional methods using a metal detector depending on how much scrap metal is present in the ground. The rats ignore any kind of metal they come across and only indicate they have found something when their noses detect explosives.
APOPO is also helping to educate communities who are living with the threat of landmines to stay as safe as possible. Detecting and clearing landmines is a meticulous and time-consuming process and our mine risk education programmes keep communities safe as we carry out our work.
Tuberculosis: Tuberculosis is the world’s most deadly infectious disease. Every year 10 million new people contract TB and 1.6 million die from the disease. An estimated four million go undiagnosed and spread the disease even further. Costly diagnostic methods and poor access to healthcare compound the problem of diagnosing TB in low-income communities. In these circumstances, APOPO’s TB detection rats are employed to screen sputum samples from people with potential TB symptoms, but whose lab tests have come back negative. In this way, APOPO’s HeroRATs detect some of the TB-positive samples that have slipped through the net. These newly positive samples are then sent to the APOPO lab for confirmation. By providing a cost-effective second-line screening process, APOPO gets more people diagnosed and they get the vital treatment they need.
APOPO also helps protect wildlife and boost tourism–
In Zimbabwe, an APOPO team is clearing the CORSAN minefield/Sengwe Corridor allowing wildlife to move freely and safely between migration areas.
In Cambodia, APOPO’s technical survey dog teams are playing an important role in detecting and clearing the site of the Koh Kher temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site contains a total of 169 archaeological remains, including 76 temples and APOPO’s teams are establishing pathways between the various attractions so visitors and local communities can walk through the forest safely.
The African giant pouched rats are chosen for their longevity (around 8 years), intelligence, and amazing olfactory skills. They are entirely trained using positive reinforcement. Animal well-being is an absolute priority, and no animal has been killed or injured carrying out their work alongside their skilful and caring handlers.
You can find APOPO UK’s annual report here.
Get in touch
APOPO UK, Suite 3, Peel House Cheshire, 30 The Downs, Altrincham, WA14 2PX
Registered charity number 1199007.
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