Subway Rat Attack: News Editor Becomes Center Of Story When Brazen New York Rodent Launches Assault
As Breaking News Editor of TheBlaze, Josiah Ryan is likely accustomed to frightening, high paced news stories that may feature people in precarious situations that might result in injury, death, or at least a serious case of the heebie jeebies. But whether or not he ever thought he’d be featured in such a story is another question, and turns out he is, after a massive, and seemingly fearless, New York subway rat charged the news editor.
The skin crawling, hair raising situation unfolded Friday night:
“I am a football field away, minding my own business,” Ryan told PIX11 News. “And this rat just comes straight at me with no provocation. I mean maybe he didn’t want to be recorded. I don’t know how smart they are.”
Josiah Ryan further recounted the event on TheBlaze:
“Late Friday evening, TheBlaze late-night editor Oliver Darcy and I were headed downtown after celebrating his birthday at an establishment near the newsroom when we encountered an enormous New York City rat loitering on the platform, possibly awaiting the D train. Being a responsible journalist, I swiftly whipped out my always-present camera to immortalize the creature for you and for posterity. What happened next permanently shook my faith in the détente I once thought existed between man and beast in New York City.”
Showing true grit in his video, below, Ryan maintains impressive composure to a certain point. That point being when the rat disappears into the shadows and, judging by Ryan’s exclaiming, “Oh, S**t!” the rat is upon him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAw05LGeTkg
“I admit, it wasn’t my finest moment,” Ryan told PIX11.
While the aggressive, hard charging rat apparently didn’t sink teeth or claws into Ryan, apparently continuing by beneath his legs, the varmint did leave the seasoned reporter rattled.
“This incident is going to haunt me for a little while now and I’m going to be more likely to grab a Citibike and head downtown instead of taking the subway,” said Ryan.
Ryan also had to absorb a little grief on Twitter:
Yes RT @jejordan67: @JosiahRyan @theblaze Was that Josiah screaming like school girl with a potty mouth?
— Josiah Daniel Ryan (@JosiahRyan) August 18, 2014
According to PIX11, the MTA, who oversees New York’s subways, is trying to solve the subway rat problem, a problem some call “epidemic”. They’re in the second stage of a field study using non-toxic bait that renders female rats barren.
Even with this latest rat attack, and another subway rat attack incident included below, the MTA told PIX11 their study seemed to be working and that the rat population was in decline.
But try telling that to these people:
Images and video via YouTube and Josiah Ryan
