Bat Flies Into New York Subway Train: ‘Oh My God, What’s Going to Happen Now?’

Stock image of a bat. Dana Tentis/Pixabay

A bat flew into a New York subway train on June 2, the door closed, and train set off. What happened next startled and unnerved commuters.

The flying mammal entered the Brooklyn bound F train on Sunday at Lexington Avenue/63rd Street Station, reported CBS Local.

Straphanger Jonathan Christoper recorded the incident on his phone. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, what’s going to happen now?” Christoper, who is a resident of Queens, told CBS Local.

“I saw this thing go right kind of close to my face and then it fell down like a piece of paper and I looked and it was a little tiny brown thing,” he said.

Christoper said he thought that the train would need to stop to let the bat out.

Jerry Tingstad of the Upper East Side told CBS, “It’s probably better than a rat on the subway.”

Milly Montanez of Spanish Harlem said: “That’s crazy. I would have been scared.”

Danielle Gustafson, co-founder of the New York City Bat Group told CBS Local that it’s rare for bats to bite humans.

“The bat that was seen was actually a tree-roosting bat. It doesn’t use caves and I can’t explain what it was doing on the subway. Unless maybe it was on a cart, and someone rolled it onto the subway,” Gustafson said.

Eastern red bats are not rare in the state of New York, according to New York Natural Heritage Program (NYHP).

They are found roosting in tree foliage or sometimes in shrubs, leaf litter, dense grass, or under house shingles.

NYHP says this species is found in the region in summers and migrates out in the winters. “Eastern red bats are regularly encountered in New York and may occur in a variety of habitats and sometimes in proximity to moderate human densities,” said NYHP.

Rat Commutes on Subway

Another subway rider in New York videoed a rat commuting along with her and getting down at 42nd Street.

“A rat wasn’t going to make me pack my bags & leave NYC... they’re my family,” said Tyler Taylor on Twitter.

The videos shared by Taylor showed people lifting their feet from the ground and some even standing on their seats to avoid the rodent.

“We get it y’all thought we were playing “the floor is lava”... AS IF. At 9 am,” Taylor wrote on Twitter.

OpenTheBooks.com has compiled an interactive map of rat sightings at local subways, reported the New York Post. The outlet reported 17,353 sightings in 2018 alone.

The rat population has been increasing in the city, according to a report in The Guardian.

There are an estimated 250,000 rats in New York City and the report says the city has been getting more rat-related calls in the past four years.

“It’s a complex issue but we are seeing rat population increases around the world now,” Bobby Corrigan, a sought-after rat-catching consultant told The Guardian.

“Requests for my services are through the roof, I can’t keep up with them,” he said.