Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment a mother rat and its baby are filmed sneaking along a noodle restaurant’s front windowsill for the world to see in a clip which has led to the eatery being shut.

Frustrated and embarrassed staff members at the Zhou Yong Beef Noodles restaurant have admitted that their search has turned up empty – and that their two cats have not found anything either.

Video from the city of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province in north-western China, shows pedestrian standing outside the restaurant window where the two rats can be seen walking along the windowsill behind a curtain.

A boy watching the pests says: “There really are rats there!”

An unnamed male staff member told local media: “We only realised when someone posted the video online on Thursday (6th September).

“We suspended our business the very next day and started looking for the rats, but we haven’t been able to find them. The glue traps we put out haven’t been touched either.

“Officials with the Food and Drug Administration have been helping us too, but they haven’t found anything either.

“They told us to tear open our ceiling – there was nothing in there. The ceiling was filled with wood and cement.

“We won’t be able to find them, but we disinfect our restaurant every week.

“We’ve asked renovators to inspect where the rats may have come from.”

The elusive rodents are believed to have gained access from somewhere outside the business.

The employee added: “We have two cats in the restaurant, but they’ve never found any rats before. We’ve never had a rodent problem, and none of our customers has ever spotted one.”

It is unclear when the restaurant will be cleared to reopen.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.