Alarming video footage has surfaced, capturing two sizable rats feasting atop a stove in the kitchen of a pub in Adelaide.
This footage, secured by 9News, reveals the rodents munching away on the grill at the Hotel Metropolitan.
The unwelcome visitors were discovered on Tuesday evening by Andrew Antonna, a chef with four years of experience at a different restaurant.
He expressed his shock, stating he had never encountered anything similar before.
“They were just scurrying around on the grill, the fryers, and even the plates, as if they were enjoying themselves,” he remarked.
“I passed by there last night and saw people dining, and I couldn’t help but feel appalled,” he added.
Publican Damien Peterson has sought to assure the public that his restaurant is aware and dealing with the problem, and that the kitchen will remain open.
“I am as disturbed as anybody else watching that vision,” he said.
“Since we have been aware of this problem, specifically every morning, we deep clean the kitchen just to make sure that if we have any visitors, there’s no trace of them.”
“I eat food out of this kitchen every single day… and some of our customers were actually eating half an hour ago while I was telling them about the problem,” he added, pointing to the Metropolitan’s five-star health food rating.
Peterson said the hotel has spent close to $10,000 on pest control this year alone.
He also claims he isn’t alone, saying the city of Adelaide is facing a major rodent problem.
“We have secured any food source that they might be chasing inside of the building, but we have literally at some points had rats chew through the floorboards to get into the building,” he said.
The Adelaide City Council says it regularly conducts inspections and action varies based on the circumstances.
