Josiah Ryan, a reporter for TheBlaze, was filming a rat at the 42nd Street subway station in New York last week when the rodent attacked him.

"I am a football field away, minding my own business," Ryan told PIX11 News. "And this rat just comes straight at me with no provocation. I mean maybe he didn't want to be recorded. I don't know how smart they are."

MTA says is working on its rat problem with a rat-sterilization program and by "fortifying" underground rooms where trash is stored.

Health experts say rats don't generally pose a threat to people, and Ryan was unhurt in this incident. But he had this to say about the encounter on TheBlaze: "What happened ... shook my faith in the détente I once thought existed between man and beast in New York City."

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