Rat Catchers, Madamba, Mozambique

Rat-catchers would capture rats by hand, ten with specially-bred vermin terriers, or with traps. Rats are rarely seen in the open, preferring to hide in holes, haystacks and dark locations. Payment would be high for catching and selling rats to breeders. A rat-catcher's risk being bitten is high, as is the risk acquiring a disease from a rat bite.
Rat catchers in fiction
A famous fictional rat-catcher was The Pied Piper Hamelin. Ratcatchers also make a major appearance in Dario Argento's The Phantom the Opera.