Crazy about rats
Many people in resettlement areas, owners of restaurants, eateries, and even medical centers in Hanoi Just seeing the two of Mr. Thu’s family makes them shed tears of joy.”
The security guards who work the night shift at the resettlement area’s apartment buildings know the two of Mr. Thu best. “Many people even came to the place to call in for a drink and asked my uncle and niece to catch mice for them. There are famous restaurants in Hanoi that even pay to hire me to periodically catch mice. Catching rats is my job, it helps me earn money from it, not only that it also contributes to eliminating rats in the city” Mr. Thu laughed.
“Periodically, every 2 weeks, the two of them return to this area to catch mice. At first, I found them strange. It’s strange what the two of them were doing to catch those dirty, smelly rats. It’s difficult to make drinking bait and not sell it to shop owners as drinking food because who would eat this type of rat? Around here, every apartment building has a garbage dump. Every time I see them coming, I’m ready to open the door so they can catch the rats.
I’m not sure what they do, but they just need to catch the rats. It’s a good thing to help them stop being destructive. Only people who work at night like us can see how many rats there are in Hanoi.
Some people know, some people don’t, some people often go to exercise around the areas in the afternoon. Everyone in the apartment building knew because around that time the two of them were busy setting mouse traps in the bushes along the road,” a security guard said.
Another guard happily said: “Dark It’s fun to watch them catch mice. At first, I often followed them to see how they caught mice. But after watching it a lot, I get tired of seeing them come and just say hello to each other happily and then they do their job. I always create conditions for them to catch rats. If only they could catch all the rats, that would be good, but there are so many rats. If you catch them today, they will be there tomorrow.
Now these rats are so blatant that it’s almost human. not even afraid. Cats and dogs seem to be complicit with the rats. One day, I was sitting on duty looking after the rats that were running around and biting each other. I saw them but was helpless and couldn’t do anything. In the past, I also tried to catch a few of them and sometimes killed them, but it didn’t work, so I had to live with them.”
“Living in a high-rise apartment is better than living in a house on the ground near the canal. It’s normal for rats to enter the house if there’s a sewage ditch. I just hope these people catch as many rats as possible” said one resident.
Rat hunting – a “toxic” job but earns millions every night
“I have to admit that this profession is always in a dirty state because I spend all day searching in places where people usually never go. The house’s garbage and sewers smell stench, especially the terrible smell of rats. Many people were curious to see the two of them catching mice. When I caught the mouse, someone vomited on the spot and ran away. Fortunately, the work only takes place at night so few people pay attention to it,” Mr. Thu shared.
If you work a lot, you will get used to smelling a lot and you will get used to it. When catching rats, you don’t need gloves, masks or any other protective gear. at all. Many people also discriminate because they find it dirty and smelly, but many people support this work.
“Once we caught mice in a trash house in a resettlement area. When we got out of the car, the nephew was holding a racket. As I was moving around, I accidentally bumped into a young woman. She screamed loudly, wiped the back of her shirt, covered her mouth, and mumbled something I couldn’t hear clearly, but they must have scolded me I also apologized and quickly left.
Many people are very funny and feel alone in them. He invited me for a drink, asked me all sorts of questions, and even showed me where there were a lot of mice to catch. Many night food vendors sometimes offer bowls of vermicelli and bread without taking money. Despite their kindness, I didn’t dare accept it because someone with tattered clothes and a foul smell would come into the restaurant to eat,” Mr. Thu said.
There were many times Mr. Thu had to bleed because he went into the sewer. The ditch in the market where waste is dumped accidentally steps on a nail or sharp object, causing his limbs to bleed. Even though he wears two or three layers of shoes, he cannot avoid being bitten by rats. He is very careful, but there are still times when he is careless is an inevitable occupational accident.
1:30 a.m. The two of them started to collect their belongings. Put the rats in the small cage into the big cage one last time and then lock the cage door. The two of them took a bottle of water to wash their hands. Mr. Thu did not forget to smoke his pipe tobacco while his nephew took the time to look at his phone. A while later, the two men each left the city center in a car with about 30kg of rats. With the price of air mice being 60,000 VND/1kg, today our income is about 18 million VND.
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