Killing Rats In The 40's

[denis567]

When I was a young boy in the 1940's. I can remember, when walking in the countryside seeing rat's tails fastened to the fencing. I was told that there was a reward for killing a rat, and the person who killed the rat had to produce the tail as proof.
Can anyone confirm if this is correct, and if so, who paid the reward?
I cannot find anything on the internet about this, any links?

[flump1]

I remember my father telling me about this, I think it was a pittance ( half-penny ) per rat tail paid by the police. I could well be wrong though.! Will watch with interest.

[kvalidir]

Rats, Squirrels and Foxes apparently according to my Grandmother but she can't remember where you had to take them to obtain the bounty.

[woofgang]

not sure about the foxes kval, I guess it depended on where you lived. Down here the hunts would have been pretty peeved if people started killing foxes for bounty and could probably have paid better for people not to....maybe it was a wartime thing.

[Svejk]

I remember reading something about taking tails to the police station for the 'bounty' money.

[seadogg]

The bounty didn't prevent barns and farm buildings being infested with them. Hence the terriers some farmers had.

[kvalidir]

She's from Warwickshire originally and my great Grandfather rode with the West Warwickshire Hunt by a coincidence.. She was quite small at the time but she says she can remember a rat gibbet with rats, squirrel and foxes tails on it and that she didn't like it because she liked to feed the squirrels lol.

[denis567]

I have just had an interesting thought on this. While trying to find information about this bounty money, I have discovered that at the outbreak of war the government advised pet owners to destroy their cats and dogs, as there was no ration allowance for pet animals. Many people resisted this but there were about 750,000 pets destroyed.
My thoughts are, did the government introduce this bounty to combat the inevitable increase in vermin. I may be wrong, but it is a thought

[boxtops]

You are certainly correct about the pet slaughter, but it wasn't to do with rationing. People were advised that if they had to be evacuated, which many people feared, or their neighbourhoods were bombed, they wouldn't be able to take pets with them. 750,000 pets were destroyed needlessly in one week. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24478532