NYC Chipotle besieged by rats feasting on avocados, biting employees

NY Post ^ | December 8, 2020 | 6:48pm | Brett Bachman

[conservative98]

Workers at an Upper Manhattan Chipotle restaurant say they’ve been fighting a losing battle against hordes of hungry rats — and a management team that let the infestation get so bad that four staffers have been bitten by the massive rodents.

The besieged fast-casual Mexican joint on Broadway near West 169th Street in Washington Heights closed to customers indefinitely late last month, but only after rats chewed through the wiring of a computer system that handled orders, two employees told The Post.

In the meantime, those workers are still going into the store to clean, in an effort to keep the vermin at bay.

They say they’ve killed dozens of the rodents by stomping on them, smacking them with broom handles, dropping boxes on them and various other medieval methods of extermination.

“It really started to take a toll on us,” said Melvin Paulino, a three-year veteran at the store who was bitten by a rat last Friday while cleaning. “We’re all scared, it’s pretty common that some of my co-workers will just start screaming out of the blue

[BigEdLB]

A clean Chipotle has tasty chicken burritos. Rats live well

[Texas Eagle]

Is that a rat or a raccoon?

[beethovenfan]

The head rat is DeBlasio.

[angmo]

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey’s on the moon)

[Boogieman]

I heard across 110th street, pimps are tryin’ to catch a woman that’s weak....

[Rummyfan]

I haven’t been to a Chipotle in two years. I will continue that streak indefinitely.

[Rummyfan]

That thing is bigger than most housecats!

[stormhill]

Maybe the ROUSs escaped from the fire swamp

[Rummyfan]

Been commuting to NYC for years and learned long ago to never go above 86th Street unless you absolutely had to.

My daughter lived on 110th just off Broadway. It seemed a nice neighborhood. She was there 2016 - 2017....

[Rummyfan]

“It really started to take a toll on us,” said Melvin Paulino, a three-year veteran at the store who was bitten by a rat last Friday while cleaning. “We’re all scared, it’s pretty common that some of my co-workers will just start screaming out of the blue

I guess the rats like the guacamole.

[Rio]

[Secret Agent Man]

NYC CHIPOLTLE:

MADE WITH FRESH MEAT DAILY

[southernnorthcarolina]

I’d been wondering what ever happened to Speedy Gonzales. Figures he’d show up at a Mexican restaurant.

[Clemenza]

Rats LOVE chicken more than anything, but you knew that already. ;)

[Zhang Fei]

[My conservative Filipino bud told me once that if there’s a Chinese resto right beside a pet shop, don’t eat there.]

---

Comic potential aside, I doubt it’s an issue, unless you’re averse to food being prepared by people who consume exotic animals. Exotic meats command a premium. They’re seen as superior, not inferior, by Chinese consumers. The prices are certainly higher.

The most exotic meat I’ve ever had is Florida gator in a can that a Ranger buddy ordered off Sportsman’s Warehouse back in the mail order catalog days, many, many moons before the Interwebs. But if the Hong Kong media are to be believed, cat and dog meat, which used to be a fringe-y protein source in China because of high price and dubious provenance (due to the lack of the Chinese equivalent of required USDA inspections for meat sales), are making a comeback because African swine flu has pushed pork prices to $4 a lb:

---

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3044526/chinas-pork-crisis-piques-interest-dog-and-cat-meat-animal
[The Chinese government, for now, is not taking sides and in Guilin, the dog and cat meat trade continue to thrive.

“To engage in food production, food sales, and catering services, a license must be obtained in accordance with the law,” the city’s market regulation department said in a statement in April. “However, no license is required to sell edible agricultural products. Dog meat is an edible agricultural product [so] no license is required to sell dog meat.”]

---

As carnivores, the feed conversion ratio (# of lbs of feed to meat output at slaughter) for carnivores like cats and dogs is relatively high, meaning if bred for meat on a farm, they should be way more expensive than common everyday meats like chicken, pork or beef, which were selected way back when for a combo of docility*, cost per lb and ease of care. The only way cat and dog meat prices are lower than or equal to pork is if they’re grabbing strays or pets off the street. Which is what the article suggests is happening.

* That is presumably the reason pigs rather than warthogs, Holsteins rather than Cape buffalo or bison are generally raised for meat.

[Scram1]

The Best Way To Trap Rats. The Ultimate Rat Trapping System. Mousetrap Monday

https://tinyurl.com/yytna96q

[Fiji Hill]

RATS! Rats!
They fought the dogs,
And killed the cats,
And bit the babies in their cradles...

And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles.
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.

[dforest]

That RAT is big enough to serve a family. Uh Gawd, how could anyone ever eat in that joint again. Reading this story about the people battling these giant rodents was even more nauseating.

[Titus-Maximus]

I have three words for you:

Jack Russell Terrier

They are phenomenal rat killers.

[Titus-Maximus]

https://youtu.be/uBdviraW65Q

Dogs kill 200 rats at English farm....