This is the moment when a group of shocked New Yorkers must jump over countless vermin that cross their path from trash cans outside a pizzeria.
Footage shows a few rats running boldly across the sidewalk before dozens of rats emerge from an overcrowded box.
Taryn Brady, 29, who was with a group of friends when she filmed the rat encounter, said she was left in “fear and disgust” after she and her friends had to jump over the rodents that ran towards them.
Soreya Scilipote, 28, Annika Bennett, 25, Shannon Bohack, 28, Andree Garcia, 30, and Ms. Brady were all frightened by what they saw.
The video shows the group at 108 South Street as they walked home from a music show on August 30.
Footage shows a few rats running boldly across the sidewalk (like the one on the left) before dozens of rats emerge from an overcrowded box (right)
Ms Brady, a social worker from New York, said: ‘We walked from the venue to a bar where everyone met afterwards.
‘At first we only saw a few rats running in front of us, but eventually we saw hundreds of them in the garbage can and then in the dumpster.
“We didn’t want to walk by in case a rat ran towards us.”
Eventually they all managed to get past the mass of rodents safely.
Mrs Brady added: ‘We ran past and as soon as we were safe we talked and laughed about it for the rest of the night.’
The group did not report the incident to animal control, but said it would have been a good idea because it happened right outside a pizzeria.
This horrific rat encounter comes after Dailymail.com reported that New York City is now so overrun with rats that tour guides are offering trips to visit the worst rodent-infested areas.
‘Rat tourism’ is the latest attraction to launch in the Big Apple, with clever handlers taking advantage of the invasion of the disease-spreading pests.
Some offer walking tours of the boroughs, including to Central Park, the subway system, near Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Chinatown.
This horrific rat encounter comes after Dailymail.com reported that New York City is now so overrun with rats (like the one pictured above in the city in August) that tour guides are offering tours to see the worst rodent-infested areas
Some tourists are now seeking rat-related experiences with guides, including stops at notoriously infested locations (left). Rat tourism has become an unexpected phenomenon in New York City, with some of the most popular spots being streamed live (right) on TikTok
It is not uncommon to see rats jumping into open garbage bins on city streets
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people are tuning in to ‘RatTok’: TikTok channels that guide viewers around the city and show how many rats live alongside New Yorkers.
The rat plague got so bad last year that Mayor Eric Adams was forced to appoint a ‘rat czar’ with the official title of ‘director of rodent control’.
One TikTok creator, Kenny Bollwerk, has built a sizable following of 234,000 users focusing on the most “attractive” places for tourists to visit after he started livestreaming rats running around outside a construction site in Queens.
He has now posted a number of videos that focus squarely on the furry creatures that continue to run their own rat race in the country’s most populous city.
New York City leaders have been trying to control the rodent population for generations, with mixed results, but sightings of rats in parks, sidewalks and other places around the city have increased and things have only gotten worse since the pandemic.
Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, rats survived a multimillion-dollar effort aimed at reducing their numbers through increased trash collection and better housing inspections in targeted neighborhoods.
The city even launched a program to use dry ice to suffocate rats in their shelters, but the rats still persist.
City officials claim they are winning in the war against rats, with Kathleen Corradi appointed as the city’s rat czar.
In fact, in June, the mayor’s office reported a 15 percent drop in rat sightings compared to 2022.
The mayor introduced a ‘rat control zone’ in Harlem earlier this year, which would invest $3.5 million in ridding the neighborhood of rodents
Last month, New York City’s “rat czar” Kathleen Corradi found many supporters for the city’s efforts to clear the streets of vermin, as the Big Apple celebrated its first-ever “anti-rat day of action.”
A rat climbs out of a box containing food on the platform of the Herald Square subway station
The city also ‘celebrated’ anti-rat day by posting an ‘Interactive Rat Map’ on the city’s website
In areas where rats are known to be common, “rat control zones” are designated where officials enter rat poison while fining businesses or homeowners if they do anything that could encourage rats to thrive.
Restaurants have also been told to dispose of all food waste in containers rather than directly into bin bags, in the hope that the extra barrier will make life more difficult for the rodents.
The city also launched its first ‘Interactive rat map’ with the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and Harlem showing the most “rativity” in Manhattan, while Greenwich Village, East Village, SoHo, and Lower East showed some of the least.
“New York City used to be known for our mean streets, but in the future we will be known for our clean streets,” Adams promised at the start of the summer.
Time will tell if Adams can deliver on his promise, but for now the rats rule.