L is for Leech-fishing

If you have just clicked onto this post, welcome, O Brave Soul. Personally, I’d run at the mention of leeches (you may recall they were formerly listed among my “Ten Cultural Practices that Should Stay Buried Forever”), and I’d run even faster if I saw any in person.
Yet in the past, there lived men and women who sought leeches for their livelihood. Since blood-letting with leeches was a common medicinal practice in the nineteenth century, the little creatures were a fairly valuable commodity.
Thus: leech fishing. Often it was a family business and parents and children would stand together in muddy water, waiting for the feel of the leeches’ bites on their legs and ankles. They would then remove the animals, place them in a container, deliver them to doctors or suppliers, and collect their pay. One family reported to having caught over seventeen thousand leeches in only a few months’ time.

I suppose everyone does what they have to in order to support a family...but that's what I call one job that really sucks.