Every day tonnes of rats are illegally imported into Vietnam from Cambodia as ingredients to be used in fake forest products and paté.

All the residents in Chrey Thom make a living from rat catching 

Chrey Thom Village, also known as Chay Thum, in Cambodia’s Kandal Province is known as an area with a large Vietnamese population who make their living off catching rats for sale to Vietnam.

Villages in Vietnam such as Co Dung in Hai Duong Province, Dinh Bang in Bac Ninh Province or some villages in Ha Tay and Thanh Tri Districts of Hanoi were well-known for rat catching. However, they created local rat dishes that clearly featured the rodent.

However, the entire village of 300 Vietnamese households in Chrey Thom consider rat catching, processing and trading as an effective way of earning money for their daily lives.

Nguyen Van Nhan, a local resident in Chrey Thom, said he buys around a tonne of rats per day, which often undergo preliminary processing before being sold to Vietnam via the Binh Di River. All of the sales are illegal as no customs agency would accept rats as legitimate or healthy imports.

Rat paté

According to Nhan, almost all the rats in Cambodia are gathered in the village and then sold to Vietnam as materials to create fake forest products at drinking establishments or even turned into paté.

Tonnes of rats are sold to Vietnam daily 

Nhan is an experienced rat catcher. His wife and him grew up in Phu Dat village in Vietnam’s southern province of An Giang, which is famous for its rat dishes.

His family has lived on rat catching for years but decided to move to Chrey Thom some years ago as they found it more difficult catching rats in southern Vietnam.

All the residents in Chrey Thom can freely travel to surrounding areas to catch and trade in rats without needing personal documents.

“Maybe, someday, we could be honoured as cleansing rats from this kingdom. My wife and I have helped eliminate hundreds of tonnes of rats here over the past years. The entire village of Chrey Thom has probably disposed of thousands of tonnes of rats to date,” he admitted.

He noted that almost all the families in the village hired people to work for them. His family currently has 15 workers who are paid between VND2 million and VND3 million (USD95.1-USD142.7) per month. Many people have become rich through this career.

“All the residents in Chrey Thom are highly skilled at rat catching. They no longer use traps or other traditional methods. Now they prefer using net to catch rats as it’s more effective,” he added.