It's official -- the unthinkable happened.
A female straphanger was scratched by a rat at the 59th Street Columbus Circle subway station on Friday morning.
The woman was attacked on the downtown A platform shortly before 8AM. A spokesman for the MTA said she requested medical assistance and was taken to St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital Center.
Where the rat scurried off to is unknown. But hopefully this blatant act of aggression will awake the slumbering dragon known as the MTA.
A statement from the agency stressed their efforts to remove rodents from the subway system:
It is important to note that we routinely clean subway cars, station platforms and track areas of debris that may attract rodents. We use rodent resistant trash receptacles and routinely power wash platforms. Additionally, we use both pest control contractors and in-house exterminating forces to bait track areas and non-public station areas.
Earlier this year, the Transit Workers Union launched a campaign to raise awareness of rat infestations underground with a "New Yorkers Deserve a Rat Free Subway" initiative along with an open call for submissions from straphangers and their ugliest roden encounters. For a photo of the ugliest rat in all the land, click here.
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