A woman has been left utterly appalled by a

@dailybez Ok I knew there were a lot of rats but seeing the rat paw prints in the snow is just too much #nyc original sound - bez

engulfing her neighbourhood, proclaiming that "rats rule this city".

Ashley Bez was astounded when she stumbled upon thousands of minuscule tracks littering the snow. Upon further examination, the 42-year-old discovered they were paw prints charting out a "rat highway."

Following the upload of the stomach-churning footage to her 39,000 TikTok followers, her video garnered an incredible 911,000 views.

"In my 24 years in the city I'd never seen it and was so shocked," Ashley, from New York City, told What's The Jam. "How could something I usually see as gross be so adorable?"

"Rats truly contain multitudes.

"When I saw them I knew immediately what they were since the rats grace me with their presence every time I'm walking around at night."

Ashley, a stand-up comedian, filmed the scenes during an early morning dog walk on February 16, 2026.

The fine layer of snow revealed precisely how saturated with rodent activity her neighbourhood becomes once darkness falls.

After the video reached the internet, it collected an impressive 53,700 likes and sparked a deluge of mixed responses from viewers.

Ashley observed: "I felt like a scientist collecting data but like, for TikTok.

"I don't know if that's sad but it's true.

"These are the times we live in."

She continued: "People seemed to think they were cute but some people were horrified."

Viewers remained divided in their reactions to the "rat highway" footage.

One observer remarked: "People living with rats and it's normalised, you live in a sh*t city, literally."

Someone else questioned: "Where do you live so I can make sure to never be there at night."

However, another viewer insisted: "They are so cute."

A different commenter stated: "Rats and pigeons run the city and I say it with love, love them all."