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Footage has emerged of an enormous rat scaling the stairs inside a University of Auckland student accommodation building, with one student claiming it was an “infestation”.
But the University of Auckland has hit back, saying the “solitary rat” has “ceased to exist” and it believes it is a one-off.
The rat was caught on camera on the eighth-floor stairs of the Carlaw Park Student Village building.
In the video, the rat demonstrates its climbing abilities, ascending stair by stair before taking a moment to perhaps take a breath or admire its work.
The 14-second video – posted to social media platform TikTok this week – has been viewed more than 51,000 times.
“He just came to help cook,” one commenter wrote – making a reference to the Disney film Ratatouille.
The rat appears to have climbed the stairs inside the Carlaw Park Student Village building, making it to the eighth floor before being detected and captured on video. Photo / TikTok / @ppdac
“That is huge,” another said.
Others referred to the rat as “Stuart Little” and “Geronimo Stilton”, both children’s literary characters.
But some commenters took pity on the rat, with one saying, “Aw, take him home, he’s hungry.”
A university spokesperson told the Herald the solitary rat was “no longer alive” and it “ceased to exist” yesterday.
“Our pest control company also completed a thorough search of every stairwell and all points of entry. They believe the rat got in through an external door that was left open.
“There were no other entry points identified. All traps around the building are empty so we believe this is a one-off.”
The pigeon can be seen dining out in the meat section of the Symonds St restaurant for about 15 seconds before a Subway employee runs towards it, smacks the counter and scares away the bird.
The video creator can be heard calling out to staff members and saying, “There’s a bird eating all your stuff. Like it’s just been picking out all of the stuff.”
“Why do they not have a cover?” one commenter questioned on the TikTok video, which has been viewed more than 200,000 times.
“Thank goodness I just eat the cookies,” another said.
A pigeon was last month caught dining out on fresh Subway ingredients behind the counter of a Central Auckland outlet in the restaurant chain. Photo / TikTok / @ppdac
The video also prompted a comment from Subway New Zealand, which read; “Hey, we’re sorry to hear this. Please contact our Subway team ... Thanks so much, Subway.”
The original poster of the video replied: “You guys really need [to] clean up this Subway store, it’s so gross and needs better food hygiene please.”
A Subway spokesperson said the franchise takes the health and safety of customers seriously.
“As soon as the Symonds St restaurant team were made aware, the food was discarded and removed from sale, and the restaurant was closed for thorough, intense cleaning.
“The team members have received additional training and have taken extra measures to help avoid this happening again.”
The spokesperson said the Symonds St restaurant would soon undergo a “full restaurant remodel”.
“We look forward to sharing with the community the new refreshed restaurant soon.”
