The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-12-07
PHILIPPINE RAT cATcHERs.
Bounty for the Capture of the AMI
mails in Manila,


mails in Manila.
The Manila rat Is much more in dc.
mand than is the Buffalo rat. Since
the American occupation of the Philip
pines rat catching has become a big
industry. 1t has thrived so much un-
der paternal form of government
that 10000 of the animals were
caught in Manila during the last year.
Incidentally, that meant 100000
deaths in the rat colony, for the only
good rats in Manila are dead rats.
This wholesale slaughter of rats is
carried out under the direction of the
Philippine Board of Health. 1t is
one of the means used to prevent the
much dreaded Asatic plague.
Although it is an established fact
that rats are carriers of the infec-
tion of the dreaded Asiatic plague, yet
comparatively few Americans in Ma
Mia are alive to the Importance which
the Board of Health authorities at.
tach to the trapping of rodents, or
are aware that the city has an organic.
ed corps of seventy-five rat catchers,
and that they trap about a hundred
and fifty thousand rats a year." said
the doctor. Such is the case, never
theless, and, were 1t not for this rat
brigade, it would be difficult to say
where the pest would stop.
The corps of rat catchers is divided
into seven sections one being assign.
ed to each of the health stations
Each man, who in turn hires small
boys to do the actual work. receives
monthly salary of 10 pesos, which
IS S5, and, in addition. three centavos
az cents) for every rat he catches.
This bounty amounts to about six
pesos a month-an average Manila
clerks salary. A rat catcher must be
industrious. He is hired by the dis
trict medical inspector, and if he fails
to corral a certain number of animals
he is promptly succeeded by n new
aspirant.
This Oriental professional resorts
to many ingenious ways in attempting
to fool the officials and incidentally,
increase his revenue. When the trap
ping was started the officials were
none too strict, and it was soon no.
ticed that some of the trappers were
making quite an amount of money.
Investigation revealed the fact that
oftentimes one rat was made to do
duty several times, being kept on the
grounds earning bounty for its captor
until decomposition set in. To remedy
this the inspectors now make each
trapper bring his rats to the station
every morning, and there the right
front foot is chopped off and the rat
is labelled with the street and the
number of the house from which it
came. All rats are then taken to the
crematory.
But the clever native found a new
means of evading the law. He con-
ceived the idea of starting a rat farm.
and before the authorities were aware
of it the business of breeding rodents,
in order to collect the bounty, assumed
goodly proportions.
"Once month an auditing is made,
at which time all the traps which are
furnished by the authorities must be
accounted for by the catchers.
"One of the principal acts in this
rat drama is enacted at the water
front, where every precaution is TAX
en- to prevent rats from coming ashore
from ships arriving from plague infect
ed ports of Asia. Cargoes are closely
watched, and while they are being dis
charged tin tunnels are placed on the
Eawsers to prevent the rodents from
reaching the wharf. buffalo Express.