Peace and Reconciliation Cambodia Project #46971

Support APOPO's Minefield Survey HeroDOGs

by APOPO vzw

Support APOPO's Minefield Survey HeroDOGs

Project Report | Jun 3, 2022
Your HeroDOGs Update from APOPO

By Emma Mortiboy | Public Fundraising Officer

HeroDOG, Ngam

Hello and welcome to your HeroDOGs Quarterly Update!

Our HeroDOGs have had an exciting last quarter, with formal re-accreditation being awarded to our existing HeroDOGs. The first accreditations were given to our new HeroDOG team members in Cambodia. Decades of civil war and external conflict have left Cambodia in desperate need of clearing the contaminated land. Throughout 2014-2021, APOPO was concentrated on landmine clearance in the northern part of the country, and in 2022 we have expanded the operations to the east, to tackle the cluster munitions problem in the eastern province of Ratanakiri, bordering Vietnam and Laos. The notorious Ho Chi Minh Trail crosses the province from north to south, which is the main reason for the area being heavily bombed during the Vietnam War. Your support will help us in this mission.

We reported last time that we were very excited to have deployed a team of 16 HeroDOGs and their handlers to Turkey and I am pleased to update you on this project in that it is beginning as expected and all team members are fully committed to clearing their tasks on time. With your support, the dogs have already searched 70,692m², which is only possible through funding and support such as yours. We truly appreciate it.

We are also excited to share the published results of an 18-month pilot project to evaluate and validate our Technical Survey Dogs in combination with the SMART system developed by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and Digger DTR. This report shares very positive results! You can find out more here: https://bit.ly/3LCvMOO

Over the last quarter, across Cambodia, South Sudan, and Turkey alone, our HeroDOGs have cleared in excess of 626,000m², which is a phenomenal amount of land to hand back to communities, making their lives safe. Clearing land from unexploded remnants of war and landmines also helps people start to grow their own crops and graze their own cattle, thus lifting them out of poverty and allowing for socio-economic change.

You have massively contributed to the successes of the last quarter. So once again, thank you so much for supporting our amazing HeroDOGs. Your generosity genuinely saves lives.

Please do also look at our latest annual report (released end of May) to see how your money really does have an impact - the link is below.

With huge thanks and best wishes,

Emma

Handler, Yem and HeroDOG, Turbo

Our HeroDOGs and Handlers have special bonds.

Links:

Annual Report

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Feb 9, 2022
Your HeroDOGs Quarterly Update!

By Emma Mortiboy | Public Fundraising Officer

Handler, Jairo with HeroDOG Cyklon in South Sudan

As you will recall from the last update, 16 of our HeroDOGs have now been mobilized in Turkey, meaning that your support has enabled the HeroDOGs to work in four different countries around the world now!

In South Sudan and Cambodia, we have been busy preparing the dogs for their yearly accreditation and assessing the tasks of 2022, whilst the HeroDOGs have a much-deserved break from operations. The HeroDOGs have not lost their touch, as our dog handlers continuously worked with the dogs to maintain their shape and conducted scent detection training. Through the last quarter of the year, our HeroDOGs completed the yearly re-accreditation with 100% accuracy. This time of rest also allowed a full health check and lots of play!

For example, in South Sudan, Cyklon passed his accreditation training with flying colors (picture of Cyklon with his handler, Jairo below) and in Cambodia, both Gizmo and Mannes have passed their accreditation and will start the 4th season of their career.

Coming up

In February, the Cambodian HeroDOGs will start searching for cluster munitions in the eastern province of Ratanakiri, bordering Vietnam and Laos. This farming province was one of the most heavily bombed areas in Cambodia during the Vietnam War, with the notorious Ho Chi Minh Trail crossing it from North to South. The province remains heavily contaminated with air-dropped bombs and other explosive devices.

This project is an international effort in collaboration with The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and includes staff from Cambodia, Colombia, and Mozambique working together.

Our teams in Turkey will start the new season in March after it gets warmer and they pass the pre-season Accreditation. The project is on Turkey’s eastern border with Armenia and Iran and the temperatures are currently between -6 to 8 degrees, which is not optimal for scent detection training.

Thank you for supporting this incredibly important work. An incredible 90% of your donation goes directly to the work on the ground, making us a very efficient non-profit. Your support genuinely helps save lives.

Warm wishes,

Emma

Sarann Sorm and Mannes

Enriquez and Gizmo - handler and HeroDOG bond

HeroDOG Turbo indicating explosives

Links:

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Oct 20, 2021
Your HeroDOGs update - thank you for your support!

By Emma Mortiboy | Public Fundraising Officer

Mannes and Sorm resting after work

It has been a busy quarter for our HeroDOGs' in their missions! Cyklon, Mannes and Gizmo are working hard across Cambodia and South Sudan, doing an awesome job, and always full of energy. We might get Monday blues, but our HeroDOGs are always raring to go at the start of a new week!

Excitingly, APOPO have extended where our HeroDOGs will be working and between 1st - 4th September we successfully mobilized 16 Mine Detection Dogs from Hungary to Turkey. The dogs will participate in the "Clearance of the Eastern Borders" project, funded by the EU, managed by UNDP and executed by APOPO's partner TDI. It is a 2-year project that includes 3 parallel efforts on Turkey's eastern borders with Armenia, Nakchivan and Iran.

The Government of Turkey imposed an animal import ban in late April, which caused a 4-month delay in the project and COVID increased the logistical challenges, as well as cost. but APOPO and our partners in Turkey requested an exemption from the Government and eventually received a partial approval to enter the country!

The operation lasted 3 days, with the dogs crossing 3,250 km and more than 20 people supporting the movement through Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey!

To complete the training as fast as possible, all APOPO dog trainers are concentrated in Turkey. The main objective is to accredit the dogs before the significant temperature drop in November.

Your support means our HeroDOGs are not only working hard in the countries they are already deployed, but we have been able to extend their activities - none of this would have been possible without support such as yours. Thank you. ♥

Spotlight on Mannes

Mannes is such a hard worker and is based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He has high levels of concentration and is very tenacious. He is also incredibly loyal with his handler, Sorm. You can find out more about Mannes here: https://www.apopo.org/en/herodogs/mannes

Thank you once again, so much; for your impressive and impactful support - you are genuinely saving lives by supporting our HeroDOGs.

With huge thanks and best wishes,

Emma

Mannes and his SMART backpack

Turbo indicating explosives to his handler

Links:

APOPO's latest Annual Report

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