Spudshed customers were left “shocked” while grocery shopping at the Ellenbrook store on Tuesday after spotting a shopper in the checkout line with two rats sitting on her shoulders.
A photo sent to PerthNow showed a hairless rat and a black rat sitting on each shoulder of the woman as she waited in the checkout queue.
“It was 5pm in the checkout line, it was busy and I noticed a lady in front of me with what appeared to be two rats around her shoulders,” a horrified customer said.
“Why would she bother to bring her rats to the shops? It’s just not something you expect to see every day.”
The customer — who was ‘shocked’ at the thought of the rodents roaming around the uncovered fresh fruit and vegetables — said the staff only spotted the woman on her way out of the store and were amused by it.
“Customers were sort of shaking their heads,” the shopper said. “I was shocked she thought it was okay to come to the supermarket with rats and with all the uncovered fresh food.”
“It was incredulous that you’d find that in a supermarket. The last thing I want to find is rat turds in my shopping.”
Spudshed said staff were not aware of the rats until the woman was being processed through the checkout.
The store confirmed no pets are allowed in the store except for service animals and that there is signage displayed that communicates these rules to customers.
“Staff were not aware of the rats until she was being processed through the check-out and this had not been reported to the Ops team,” said Galati Group’s Head of Marketing Melissa Osterhage.
“There were no complaints received from customers. Spudshed welcomes service animals but pets are not allowed in the store.
“There is signage displayed that communicates this to our customers.”