Mervindavisk

A Vietnamese Rat Hunter

Rat Hunt

The rat hunt had started in Vietnam in 1902. It was mainly due to the huge amount of rats which had settled in the sewers in the French city. Rats had entered well cared of French through sewage pipes. This had caused a plague in Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam).

The Hunt

To stem this invasion a hunt was started. The french hired Vietnamese works and paid them for each rat they caught. Even though is was a very odd job, the people of Vietnam considered this as a chance for them to take over the French domination.

Collective Bargaining

The rat hunt seemed to provide an early lesson in the success of collective bargaining. The Vietnamese discovered ways to make profit from this situation. The bounty was given when a tail was given as proof that a rat has been killed. the rat hunters took advantage of this. They clipped tails and released the rats, so that the process could be repeated, over and over again. Some people began raising rats to earn bounty.

A Rat Hunter getting bounty

Effects of the Hunt

The French were forced to scrap the bounty programme. But the plague had still swept through the area in 1903 and in the coming years.

References

http://rebrn.com/re/a-terrier-shows-off-its-catch-after-a-minute-rat-hunt-in-french-634714/ https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.ae/2013/03/rat-hunter-wwi-trench-hunter.html