At dawn or dusk on the newly harvested fields in the suburbs of Hanoi, the “players” in Canh Nau village (Thach That) hold a racket, flashlight, traps, iron baskets to catch rats exhaust.
The hamster hunting industry is “urgent hit”
After harvesting the seasonal rice crop, his father and son Nguyen Luong Thang (village 4, Canh Nau) put the battery on his shoulder, put on a flashlight, put on his boots and took a racket to go to the fields to catch rats.The “golden” time to catch rats is when it is dusk, rats start to go for food after a day of hiding in a cave.Following Thang’s father and son, walking along the fields of Thach That district, Phuc Tho district, seeing “prey”, the son, sitting behind the motorbike, got out of the car, rushed down the field and used a racket to turn the mouse over. definitive.After only 3 hours, Mr. Thang and his father and son caught more than 10kg, one day “hit big” and got 20kg of rats and immediately pocketed the million.
The job of catching rats requires “hunters” to be strong in order to chase mice, with their right eyes to aim properly, to hit “prey”.
Mr. Thang further revealed: “During the capture process, we have to predict the way the rat will run away to stop the head, because when the light is on, the mouse will run, or hide in the stump, so it is difficult to find”.
In the past, people in the village could only use hoes and spades to dig a cave, or pour water into the cave to wait for rats to come out, now there are more creative ways to save time and still be productive.
Two villages away from Mr. Thang’s house, Mr. Do Huu Lai’s house (village 2, Canh Nau) is also one of the long-time rat-catching households in the village. Mr. Lai did not use a racket to catch but used a trap.
Mr. Lai’s daily schedule of “hunting” rats starts at 11 noon, looking for a place to set traps, and about 3pm, 100 traps are set up. Resting, until 18pm, the mice come out in a series, just take the basket to remove the trap and pick up the mouse.
Mr. Lai shared: “I catch rats very leisurely, but have to go far to catch a lot. I usually go to neighboring districts first, like Phuc Tho, Hoai Duc, then go to Vinh Phuc province, 50km – 60km away from home ”.
According to the experience of the “hunters”, if you want to catch rats, you must “listen to” the weather: In the dry and cold season, you will get low, choose somewhere near the banks of the ditch with water to catch, and in the rainy season, you must go up because the mouse runs up much.
People in the village said that the field of hamster hunting has existed for a long time. This not only helps people to protect their crops, but also brings high economic benefits.
Rat meat is no longer a simple food, but it is also considered a specialty of the people in Canh Nau commune.
After being caught, the rats are brought back to the ceiling with hot water, shaved off their hair, harvested with dry straw, and then brought to the village market to sell.On average, rats that have harvested gold cost between 120,000 VND – 150,000 VND / 1kg.
