Hordes Of Rats Invade NYC Fast-Food Joint

Rodents Rule The Roost At A Closed KFC-Taco Bell Restaurant

(CBS/AP)  Even for New Yorkers who had seen everything, the sight was a jaw dropper: hordes of rats running freely through a closed fast food restaurant in the West Village.

Agile, plump, leaping and bounding from table to table, the rodents ran across the floor, between counters and tables and onto children's high chairs.

They even perched on top of an ATM machine.

Rats have long been a presence in New York, with such a dense population and such a large and readily available food supply for the rodents. But it is rare to see so many rats congregating in one place in public view, rather than scampering through subway tunnels, rooting through trash, or dashing across parks.

News crews flocked to the KFC-Taco Bell restaurant, and video footage taken through the store window was widely disseminated Friday on TV stations and the Internet.

Employees came to work Friday morning, but no customers were allowed in as health inspectors arrived.

CBS station WCBS-TV reported that the Department of Health had previously cited the location for health violations, include evidence of "live rats present in the facility's food and non food areas," and will keep the restaurant closed until it can re-inspect it.

The franchise was also cited for having rats on at least three previous occasions by the Department of Health since 2004.

Rick Maynard of KFC/Taco Bell issued a statement Friday, saying "This is completely unacceptable and is an absolute violation of our high standards. This restaurant has been closed and we are addressing the issue with the franchise owner. We will not allow this store to re-open until it is completely resanitized and given a clean bill of health."

The statement also assured customers that this was an isolated incident.

According to people interviewed at the scene by WCBS, the popular restaurant was open until 11 p.m. Thursday night. Others told the station that the problem has been going on for weeks.

"I love to eat at KFC, but this is disgusting," said Tameeka St. Jean.

One man claiming to be a former employee told WCBS correspondent Magee Hickey that he quit after one month because of what he called "filthy conditions."

"I quit because it was nasty," he said.

According to a statement by KFC/Taco Bell, construction in the franchise's basement on Thursday "temporarily escalated the situation."

Joel Cohen, who lives in the building next to the restaurant, had a more graphic view of the situation.

"I'm living over the place that is feeding the rats of New York City," said Cohen, who works in real estate. "This place is a disaster. They throw their rubbish in the doorways. It's loaded up with food in bags that are not tied, and the rats have eaten through the bags."

[hartsmart777]

They are the toughest critters on this planet, found them feeding on grit-loaded soap!

[randalds]

"I love to eat at KFC, but this is disgusting," said Tameeka St. Jean.

A good advice to Tameeka, check if the piece of chicken has a chop suey stick, then it's not chicken...
Posted by grazinggoat at 08:15 PM : Feb 24, 2007

LOL!!!

[grazinggoat]

"I love to eat at KFC, but this is disgusting," said Tameeka St. Jean.

A good advice to Tameeka, check if the piece of chicken has a chop suey stick, then it's not chicken...

[grazinggoat]

Rats make a good stew. Just add a few potatoes and vegetables.
Posted by elgraz

-And present it to mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican who made this city rotten like a dump.

Michael Bloomberg, are you waiting for Superman to clean it up? Only a SuperRat of the Ninja Turtle'S serie will pop up to your help...

[knyghtwolf]

Do like White Castle does, use them for the meat in their hamburgers.

samjudwin what exactly do you think a horde is? maybe you need to look it up

[fitedafuture]

rats surfacing could only mean one thing,they are aware of catastrophic events about to take place.

[samjudwin]

I second grader who authored the headline for this article needs to look up "horde" in a dictionary.
I suppose if your writing was bad you would resort to deceptive practices to draw attention.
Typical media hype (read lies)

[flana1]

You will never get rid of those rats. The best thing Taco/ Bell should do, is close that place for good. It is ruining their brand recognition.
Trying to make things right will keep the thought in the news. End it now and avoid the continued public notice.Pull the franchise and get the sign off the building today. Any P.R. firm will give you that advice. Those rats are throughout the entire block. If you don't want to do that get some saddles and charge for rides! Man those puppies are big!!

[eyemdope]

Good point silver9991. When is it going to be recognized that rats are a delicious and nutritious source of protein?!?!

Once this point is recognized, then there will be less issues with articles like this.

[musty2u]

Somebody must have spiked humancitizen's cocoa

[silver9991]

??Human??citizen - A little full of hate today, aren't we? Go relax.

[nothappyatall]

Hermitt22: I was citing the REALITY, $5.15 an hour teens and immigrants who work in these places are not going to care, why should they, they aren't eating the food or they have rats in their own apartments since they live nearby.

How many teens do you know clean and sanitize their room? it's legendary that teens are sloppy, and a dump like Taco-Bell is going to be a Mexican or teens FIRST job, not the job for an engineer.

This is one reason why you read almost every week about salmonella, ecoli and other food infections- filth, bad food handling practices and employees who don't care.

Years ago I not only lived in Greenwich Village but I've worked in restaurants and know what the kitchens are REALLY like when the inspector is not due for 4 months yet on his annual inspections that always took place the same week each year.
The week before the inspector was due to visit, the place gets a complete cleaning, inspector comes, marks the score, leaves, people go right back to changing money with bare hands and prepping food without washing, "nibbling" out of the make-table bins and so on.

That is nothing less than fact, it happens- I've seen it with my own eyes.

[musty2u]

Only in New York could such a thing transpire long enough to be filmed time and again with no action taken. I would hope that now that over twenty-four hours have elapsed the rodent population in that locale has been seriously decreased.

[plowhandle]

They are Republiscum Rats, obviously.

Members of the Republishit Party.

[drinuk]

Those Rats 'aint just ordinary Rats, they are Bin Laden Rats, illegal immigrants dosed up with the Black Plague, think on folks !

[bildooreilly]

Dallas Cowboy Coach Haley got a rat in his wifes McSalad awhile back and is sueing Mcdonalds for millions. The media hardly reported on it at all...

[hermit22]

if you delete the killjoy nonsense from effallah,and newster's mean remarks about hardworking $5.15 hour workers, this has to be the most funny comment line in news history! begin reading at the beginning and laugh and laugh. thank you one and all! read on!

[effallah]

I once visited NYC long ago, and I didn't see any rats or other vermin, except for the human variety. Anyway, this problem must have something to do with WMD, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, terrorists, and/or Osama Bin-Forgotten. (get a clue Georgie, he's been dead for years) Oh, I forgot...ya' gotta have more than one brain-cell to connect the dots...

[effallah]

I once visited NYC long ago, and I didn't see any rats or other vermin, except for the human variety. Anyway, this problem must have something to do with WMD, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, terrorists, and/or Osama Bin-Forgotten. (get a clue Georgie, he's been dead for years) Oh, I forgot...ya' gotta have more than one brain-cell to connect the dots...