Bangladesh Rewards Man with Color Television for Killing 83,000 Rats

September 30th, 2009 by Jeffrey P

Photo: Associated Press

In front of a crowd of more than 500 people at an official ceremony, Bangladesh rewarded a farmer who killed more than 83,000 rats by giving him a 14-inch color television and special certificate. Mokhairul Islam’s success has launched a year-long campaign to kill millions more. It took the farmer over 9 months to amass the 83,450 rats on his poultry farm and he collected the tails for proof of his bounty.

It is estimated that rodents, mainly rats, destroy some 1.5 million to 2 million tons of food each year. Every ton of food that is destroyed is another ton of food that Bangladesh must import. If everybody does their part and the campaign succeds the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Councilestimates they can cut the amount of food they have to import by 50%.

Story: MSNBC