Horrified onlookers waiting for a train watched as a horde of rats ran out from a homeless person's blanket.
The video shared on TikTok shows what appears to be someone under a blanket in the corner of a subway platform. It was shared by @six4bk78 on January 8 and has been watched millions of times.
Something can be seen moving under the blanket and a couple rats ran out. The camera-person then goes over to wake him up and then a horde of more than 20 rats sprint away. The homeless man doesn't appear to react to the rats being so close.
Thousands of people live in the subway stations across New York. Rats have always been a big problem in New York and Mayor Eric Adams has offered a job for what he termed as the Big Apple's 'Rat Czar' in 2022.
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It is unclear which subway station the incident was filmed at. According to the NYC Subway Rat Detector, 3 Av-149 St, 103 St, and Parsons Blvd stations have had the highest percentage of rat sightings.
People were heartbroken to see someone living in such rat-infested conditions. People commented that they hope the person who filmed the video had helped the homeless person. One wrote: "I hope you did something kind for him rather just getting a video of him sleeping with rats for views. Did you at least buy him a meal, warm gloves."
Last month disgusted movie lovers stormed out of a cinema after it was "overrun with rats" after nine rodents were spotted in one show.
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19-year-old Lilliana visited the AMC Orpheum in New York to watch "Wonka" when a rodent ran past her and a friend at the 4pm showing on December 21. The seven-screen cinema was "filthy" and "gross" as the rodents made an appearance during the previews which "really scared her friend."
Connelly Roberge, 17, who was with Lilliana, said customers were seen fleeing the cinema after the rodents ran around their shoes. “While the ads were playing we saw the rat going around the theatre and promptly ran out. Other people noticed it too, and were obviously freaked out", she said.
Customers took to Nextdoor, a neighbourhood company, to express their dismay at the cinema and warned people to stay away from the AMC Orpheum. “When you’re just trying to unwind with a movie you don’t want to have to worry about a street rat crawling on you,” Roberge said.
However, staff at the cinema were not bothered by the rats, according to Roberge, who added: “We went to customer service to ask if there was something they could do about it. They quite literally asked us if we were gonna stay . . . as if these conditions were normal. They gave us confused looks about why we would come up to notify them. They almost seemed to want us to leave.”
Lilliana admitted she thought the staff would try and chase the rats out of the cinema or move them to a new screening but they refused to do anything productive, she revealed: “We thought they would turn on the lights, get a broomstick or something and chase the rat out. But they just didn’t really care.” The friends were denied a refund despite the ghastly conditions, which meant they had to sit and watch the film for two hours.