A man sleeping on the No. 4 train in Brooklyn was startled awake when a rat that hitched a ride in the subway car climbed up his body and got up close and personal…and it was all captured on videotape.
Although rats are commonly seen along the subway platforms and tracks in NYC, they are almost never seen on the trains themselves.
Jeffrey Forde, the man who captured the video, sold the footage to several media outlets for nearly $4000.
Forde said he was on the train around 2a.m. Tuesday when he was awakened by a scream. He opened his eyes and saw the rat sitting in the lap of another sleeping passenger.
The rat jumped down and began running around the subway car, and Forde thought, “Wait a minute, if he does that again I have to get it onvideo. He grabbed his camera, and the rat didn’t let him down.
Some people are speculating that the video was staged, saying the rat looks more like someone’s pet than a true subway rat.
As a former rat owner (don’t judge, she was a feeder rat I saved from the jaws of my nephew’s lizard), I have to say the rat in the video does seem awfully healthy and friendly. Perhaps it could have been someone’s pet that got away?
Check out the subway rat video below.
