On 19 July 1963, Dagblad Tubantia reported:
“Today, Mr S. Douma officially retires from the Municipal Works Department in Aalten. So far, Mr Douma has not allowed himself to be ‘persuaded’ to attend the customary farewell gathering of the staff association. Out of modesty. With Mr Douma, one of the most distinctive figures in the street scene is disappearing. He is particularly well liked among the farming population. It was he who served the municipality of Aalten in the profession of rat-catcher.
This departure does not mean, however, that Aalten’s rats now have free rein. On the contrary, Mr Douma is giving up everything except the rats. For the time being, at the municipality’s request, he will continue to carry out this part of his duties. The hunt will probably even become considerably more intensive. After all, he now has the time available for it. The ‘rat-catcher’, who spent more than 30 years in municipal service, has dealt with 1,172 cases of rat control since the campaign began. It is difficult to estimate how many rats he has killed, but it is certain that the number runs into the thousands. Mr Douma hopes to add many more to that total.”
On Thursday, 22 October 1964, Douma, ‘the retired rat-catcher from Aalten’, was a guest on the NCRV radio programme Samen uit samen thuis.
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