“We Are the Girls That Kill the Rats” – Girls of the Women’s Land Army Were Employed as Rat Catchers During WWII

Pests such as rats posed a serious threat to supplies of food and animal fodder on British farms. During wartime, there were thought to be over 50 million rats in Britain. To help counter this threat, teams of land girls were trained to work in anti-vermin squads. Two land girls are reputed to have killed 12,000 rats in just one year. Land girls in anti-vermin squads also were also trained to kill foxes, rabbits and moles.

This was just one of many vital and often physically demanding tasks undertaken by the Land girls, who stepped in to fill the agricultural labor gaps left by men serving in the armed forces. Their work ranged from plowing and harvesting to dairy farming and working in the Women’s Timber Corps (“Lumber Jills”).