Does This Video Show Pizza Rat Turning Into 'Cannibal Rat' For 2016?

Or is the rodent just trying to preserve his dead friend's dignity?

Has the New York Pizza Rat turned to eating its own?

A rodent that's been nicknamed "Cannibal Rat" was filmed dragging a dead comrade down the steps of the Jay Street-Metro Tech subway station in Brooklyn on Saturday night. YouTuber JB José posted the clip online, and suggested that the rat famous for hauling pie down steps in the city's East Village in September was now devouring its own species.

"NY Pizza Rat turns to cannibalism," he titled the clip. Despite the sensational headline, however, the rat isn't shown chowing down on his fellow critter in the footage. Instead, it drags the body for several feet along the Manhattan-bound F platform, sparking speculation that it was in fact a heroic deed on the part of the animal who perhaps wanted to preserve his dead pal's dignity.

JB José told Gothamist via email that he started filming because his girlfriend was "deathly frightened (and it seems like the logical thing to do at the time)."

It's not known whether the rat ended up eating its friend. "Will we ever know?" asked JB José in the video's description.

But rats are known to be cannibalistic, according to a study by W. Lane-Petter in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. So perhaps it just wanted a quiet place to enjoy the first feast of 2016 after all?

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