RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Rat Bites Subway Rider at Station

New York transit workers said a rat bit a subway rider on the foot while she was waiting for a train at a downtown station.

Transit sources told the New York Daily News the woman, who was described as in her 20s, was sitting on a bench at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station at about 9:30 a.m. Monday when the rodent ran up and bit into the flesh of her foot.

"She was pretty frantic and upset," one transit worker said. "You could actually see the bite."

Authorities said the woman was treated at New York Downtown Hospital and released.

Officials with Transport Workers Union Local 100 said rats are becoming more common at stations because of infrequent garbage collection and poor seals on trash storage rooms.

City transport officials declined to comment, the Daily News said.

Source: DailyNews.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

(via United Press)
Note: In Britain they call potato chips “crisps”

Retail giant Tesco has apologized to a customer who claimed she found newborn mice in a multi-pack of crisps.

Liz Wray said she was shocked to see half a dozen pink mice emerge from multi-packs of crisps at a new Tesco store in Aston, Birmingham.

The mother of one said she was also horrified the store was not shut down straight away, but was still open several hours later as pest control staff arrived.

Tesco apologized for the "upsetting" discovery and said it was confident the incident was isolated.

A spokesman said: "This was clearly an upsetting discovery for our customer, for which we are very sorry.

"Pest control experts have been in the store over the weekend checking it from top to bottom and we're confident this was an isolated incident.

"The cleanliness of our stores is a priority for all our staff."

Ms Wray told the Birmingham Mail she was with a work colleague when they made the discovery.

"Suddenly these tiny pink things appeared from the multi-packs and were lying in front of us," she told the paper.

"They were repulsive and made me feel revolting. There were half a dozen of them crawling out of different holes in the crisps and we couldn't believe our eyes."

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA