After the floods, people in Yen Thanh rushed to hunt field rats.
After the floods, many people in Yen Thanh district flocked to the fields to hunt for the "specialty" field mice, either to improve their family meals or to sell them for extra income.
According to a reporter's observations on September 25th, a group of people were seen digging for rats in a high mound in Bac Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Mr. Tran Minh Chien, a resident of Bac Thanh commune, said: "After the recent flood, the water in the fields rose, forcing rats to seek shelter in the embankments and high mounds. This is also a favorable time to catch them. We observed that after locating the rat burrows, three people used hoes and shovels to dig into the nooks and crannies. Sometimes, they only needed to dig 20-30 cm deep to catch them."
But there were also some rats that refused to come out. After digging up the burrows, they would pour water into them or burn straw to smoke them out. The rats, unable to bear the suffocation, would then run out, and the group would be waiting to "catch" them and put them in sacks. Each time a rat escaped from its burrow, the whole group would chase after it, which was quite amusing.
Mr. Tran Minh Chien added: "Each day, the group goes 'rat hunting' and catches 15-20 kg of rats, selling them at 70,000-80,000 VND/kg. We mainly sell them to rat purchasing facilities in Duc Thanh commune. On average, each person earns 300,000-500,000 VND per day from catching rats."
Besides hunting rats by digging burrows, at this time of year, many groups are "hunting" rats using snap traps across the fields of Yen Thanh district. Around dusk, they spread these traps along the edges of the rice paddies. The traps are semicircular, consisting of two iron rings tightly attached together by a large spring at the bottom; when a rat gets caught, it is usually clamped around the neck.
Mr. Tran Van Luyen, a rat hunter in Duc Thanh commune, said: "Each time I spread hundreds of rat traps all over the rice paddies, I check the traps every hour or so. Any rats that get caught are put into sacks. In general, during the rainy season, when I have free time, catching rats is a good source of income."
A facility specializing in purchasing rats in Duc Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, added: Every day, they collect 3-4 quintals of rats from all over Yen Thanh district, buying them at an average price of 80,000 VND/kg. After processing, they sell for 100,000 VND/kg. The main markets are restaurants in the district and supplying markets in the northern provinces.
Many people also hunt rats as a hobby, supplementing their food supply during the rainy season. The rats they catch are cooked into various dishes such as salt-roasted rat, boiled rat with lime leaves, stir-fried rat with lemongrass and chili...
Hunting field mice also has many benefits, providing farmers in Yen Thanh district with additional income during the off-season and contributing to crop protection. These mice live in the fields and differ from house mice. They resemble house mice but have a sturdy body, a short, furry tail, a slightly round head, small eyes and ears, and high molars with pointed, less rounded teeth.
