Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Poodle playing on tarmac delays flights BOSTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A runaway poodle has been reunited with her family after holding up traffic at Boston's Logan Airport while she cavorted on the tarmac. Advertisement Officials say Choochy the poodle spent 17 hours evading nearly a dozen Massport employees and state police trying to capture her, The Boston Globe reported Monday. Massport spokesman Phil Orlandella says Choochy must have escaped from her kennel while her flight from Detroit was being unloaded Saturday night. Choochy's romp ended Sunday afternoon but not before she managed to delay at least eight flights for about 20 minutes each. The poodle "seemed to be having a good time," said Gideon Lester who watched as airport vans drove in circles trying to corral the tiny dog. Lester said his fellow passengers aboard a delayed US Airways flight were mostly amused rather than annoyed by the situation. Advertisement Britain has more rats than people LONDON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Pest control experts say population figures indicate there are more rats living in Britain than people. The pest control company Rentokil estimates there are as many as 80 million rats in the United Kingdom, which has a human population of 60 million, The Times of London reported Monday. Nationwide, calls to pest control units in Britain have risen by 17 percent, the newspaper says. Figures show the city of York in the north of England tops the list of problem towns with a yearly increase of 208 percent in its rat population, Others with a significant increase in rats are Carlisle, Exeter and Salford. Director Peter Crowden of the National Pest Technicians Association warns there will be an epidemic unless citizens reduce food waste. Many local councils in Britain have reduced garbage collections to every other week instead of weekly. "Fortnightly bin collections now mean it's vital we recycle," said Crowden. "Just putting extra food scraps on compost heaps means fantastic breeding grounds for rats to spread disease." Leopard tattoo man moves from hut KYLEAKIN, Scotland, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A 73-year-old British man who once held the title of world's most-tattooed man says he has moved from a remote Scottish coastline because he's getting too old. Advertisement Tom Leppard, an ex-special forces soldier whose entire body is covered in leopard-spot tattoos, had for years lived in a rustic hut on the Isle of Skye but has moved because he couldn't handle the three-mile canoe trip to the nearest town anymore, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday. "I was perfectly happy in the (hut) but I'm like everyone else -- I'm getting too old for that kind of life," Leppard told the newspaper. "I had to canoe to (Kyleakin, Scotland) once a week for shopping and it was getting too hard for me -- I was one big wave away from disaster. It's a pretty nasty stretch of water." The Telegraph said Leppard, who held the tattoo record until overtaken recently by a New Zealand man, has moved to a retirement home, but didn't indicate where. Smoked-out students get posh hotel digs HAMILTON, Ontario, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Some 550 students at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, can't complain about dormitory life after being relocated to luxury hotels. Peter Smith, associate vice president of academics at the university 50 miles west of Toronto, said the school has been negotiating with city hotels for more than a week to accommodate students after a fire damaged a campus residence 10 days ago, the Hamilton Spectator reported. Advertisement Sunday, about 140 students checked into the upscale Crown Plaza hotel, another 101 were assigned to the Sheraton Hotel and the balance booked into four other hotels, the report said. First-year humanities student Aaren Fitzgerald, told the Spectator she was impressed the school found her a suite at the Sheraton, which also has an indoor pool. "Mac handled it really well. They placed people so quickly," she said. The university was also in talks with the hotels to ensure the students' meal cards would be honored at the various restaurants, the report said. The cost of the relocation, expected to last until January, wasn't disclosed, the Spectator said.
