Hunting rats in Southern Vietnam

Trần Hùng, a farmer from Tam Nông District, says: "We love hunting field rats in the rainy season so much! We often go in groups of 5–7, with two or three dogs doing the actual chasing. Several hours of hunting usually results in 20 to 30 rats per hunter. My brother and I can catch at least 50 rats in half a day, bolstering both our meals and our family income."

In the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta’s wet season— from May to October— in the lunar calender-most rice fields are flooded.

It is not difficult to catch a rat in the Mekong Delta

Hùng says this forces rat populations to move. As rats destroy crops, hunting them is a good thing to do.

Farmers use different means like setting traps, poisoning, and smoking out their lairs. Traps are laid at lair entrances to capture the escaping rats. Hùng says this method is most preferable in the dry season.

Farmers in Đồng Tháp Mười and Long Xuyên Quadrangle are busy preparing for rat hunting in the wet season.

They craft home-made shotguns firing steel arrows instead of bullets. These guns are accurate within a 5–6m range. Iron pitchforks attached to 4-5 long bamboo poles are used to spear rats already coralled by dogs.

Lê Tân, a farmer from Thanh Bình District, recalls: "I led my two sons equipped with our two pitchforks, a shotgun, and two dogs. We hunt through the trees, grass fields, and hills. After four hours, we can catch as many as 70 rats, selling for VND45,000–50,000. Any extra income is helpful for us."

Trapping is also effective and comparatively safe. Traps, normally around five inches long are placed at the entrance to the lairs before they are flooded.

There is another way of tricking rats into constructed nests to capture them at a later date. Placed near areas where rats frequent are bundles baited with rice, beans, corn, and potatoes on an area of about 20sq.m. Nests are sometimes even insulated against the colder weather with straw.

Farmer Trần Văn Hải says, "My family have used this method for more than three years. We catch dozens of rats."

Nguyễn Thanh Giang also from Thanh Bình District says the nests “with green beans cooked into a delicious and nutritious porridge" can even catch snakes.

Selling rats in the Mekong Delta

Traders purchase rats from hunters and sell them at local markets.

Hoàng Anh, a resident of Tràm Chim Town, who has traded in rats for more than seven years, says: "Normally I start buying rats at the beginning of April (lunar calendar), then transport them to markets in An Giang, Hậu Giang, and Đồng Tháp provinces.”

"I buy and sell an average of 100 field rats a day. By the end of September, when the hot season draws to a close, I can earn a good profit of VND5–7 million!"

"Rat meat is much sought after at the approach of autumn. It’s tasty and good for human health."

Trần Hùng says hunting and trading rats helps Mekong Delta farmers earn extra income and—even more importantly—prevent the crop destruction by rats.