Brooklyn rats are getting huge by feasting on Chipotle: neighbors
Monster rats are growing bigger by the minute feasting on trash outside a Chipotle restaurant in Brooklyn Heights, according to the eatery’s fuming neighbors.
The rotund rodents — some as big as a cat — gnaw through trash bags put in front of the eatery to chow down on discarded burrito bowls and other grub, according to residents and nearby workers.
“The rats are gorging themselves,” said Peter Bray of the Brooklyn Heights Association. “Chipotle piles the trash bags several feet high at the curb. It’s a field day for rats.”
Workers dump bags of garbage in front of the eatery on Montague Street near Clinton Street at around 6 p.m. every day — giving the rats plenty of time to snack before the garbage men arrive, according to Bray and other neighbors.
“On average, I see four or five rats going back and forth from the garbage to the building next door under construction,” Brooklyn Heights resident William Taylor told the Brooklyn Eagle. “With a constant source of food, I wonder how big the rat community has grown!”
One construction worker said he spotted a rat that was bigger than a feline, according to the paper.
A Chipotle rep blamed the rodent problem on the construction site, saying the apartment project had unearthed the vermin.
“It wasn’t like that before. When they started the construction, they came out,” Chipotle manager Margarette Pierre told the paper.
She added, “The rats are not good for us, either.”
Neighbors now want the restaurant to use thicker trash bags and metal containers to keep the massive rats out, Bray said.
“Rats are a fact of life in New York City,” he said. “But the way Chipotle is handling the trash is exacerbating the problem.”