A burger restaurant has been shut down and sanitised after a wayward mouse invaded its kitchen and leapt into the deep fryer.
The doomed rodent was filmed over the weekend at a Whataburger chain store in the United States and posted to Facebook.
The video shows the commotion in the kitchen after the mouse was spotted as restaurant guests walk into the frying area to try and keep it from the food.
Brushawn Lewis, who filmed the chaotic scene, can be heard saying "this sh*t is crazy" as staff and punters unsuccessfully try and keep the rodent from the deep fryer, reports news.com.au.
Staff and diners react as the mouse takes his fateful plunge. Photo / Supplied
"I'm at whataburger in Bastrop Tx. It's a damn rat just out in the open!" Mr Lewis wrote in the caption. "But it did get deep fried! Smdh."
"This girl really fixin' to try and catch this rat," he says in the video which has been shared nearly 70,000 times on the social media platform, moments before the poor rodent takes its fatal plunge.
Restaurant workers and guests argue about how best to save the little critter before Mr Lewis unhelpfully offers, "When it's cooked it'll float to the top."
"I've seen it all," he said.
Goodnight, sweet prince. Photo / Supplied
The restaurant chain released a statement on its own Facebook page responding to the video which said the store had been shut down and sanitised.
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention," the company said.
"At Whataburger, cleanliness and food safety are top priorities for us.
"In this instance, we closed the restaurant out of an abundance of caution and notified pest control.
"The entire restaurant has since been cleaned and sanitised. We addressed this situation as quickly as possible, reinforcing procedures with our family members.
"While we'll continue to be very diligent, it's important to know there was no history of this type of incident at this unit and there is no ongoing issue."
