These Giant Rats Save Lives and May Soon Stop Poachers

These Giant Rats Save Lives and May Soon Stop Poachers

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 964 , Segment 6

Episode: Holiday Conflicts, Ethical Shopping, St. Lucia, Man’s Best Friend, Hero Rats

  • Dec 13, 2018 10:00 pm
  • 13:55 mins

(Originally aired July 2, 2018) Guest: Kate Sears-Webb, Behavioral Research Technician, APOPO APOPO is a global non-profit organization based in Tanzania that has pioneered the training-rats-to-save-lives thing. Their African pouched rats have cleared more than 100,000 landmines from former war zones and can screen mucus samples for tuberculosis way, way faster than traditional methods. Now the rats are being grained to find illegally trafficked African hardwoods and pangolins, which are scaly anteaters.

Other Segments

Ethical Clothing and American Brands

19 MINS

Guest: Emmanuel Teitelbaum, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University For more than 20 years, Americans clothing companies have been under pressure to make sure their shoes and shirts and jeans aren’t being sewn in dangerous sweatshops by child laborers in Asia. All the big brands have divisions dedicated to doing things in a socially responsible way. Has any real progress been made? What about those two tragedies that happened in Bangladesh a few years ago where one factory caught fire and another collapsed entirely? Hundreds of workers were killed and logos for some big American brands were found in the rubble. How much progress have we made since that tragedy?

Guest: Emmanuel Teitelbaum, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University For more than 20 years, Americans clothing companies have been under pressure to make sure their shoes and shirts and jeans aren’t being sewn in dangerous sweatshops by child laborers in Asia. All the big brands have divisions dedicated to doing things in a socially responsible way. Has any real progress been made? What about those two tragedies that happened in Bangladesh a few years ago where one factory caught fire and another collapsed entirely? Hundreds of workers were killed and logos for some big American brands were found in the rubble. How much progress have we made since that tragedy?