Rat at Whataburger in Texas jumps into deep fryer, viral video shows

A viral video first shared Sunday appears to show a rat jumping into a fryer at a Whataburger in Central Texas.

The video, first posted by a Facebook user identified as Brushawn Lewis, records a tiny rat seemingly scurrying on a kitchen counter allegedly located in a Whataburger at Bastrop, Texas.

“It’s a damn rat out in the open!” wrote Lewis in the post. “But it did get deep fried!”

The video shows an employee searching to find the rat, hidden in between containers on the kitchen counter, as customers watch from in front of the counter. A worker is seen on video appearing to offer refunds to customers at the restaurant. 

The rat then leaps into a vat of grease in the deep fryer, while stunned employees try to figure out what to do next. 

KEYE-TV in Austin, Texas, reported that Whataburger shut down and “cleaned and sanitized” the restaurant after the incident, according to a statement shared by Whataburger in a Facebook comment. It is unclear whether the restaurant has since reopened.

“At Whataburger, cleanliness and food safety are top priorities for us,” the statement read. “In this instance, we closed the restaurant out of an abundance of caution and notified pest control. The entire restaurant has since been cleaned and sanitized.”

Neither Lewis nor Whataburger immediately responded to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote