Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Prince Charles helps boost Transylvania LONDON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Britain's Prince Charles is looking for a house in Transylvania, the part of Romania associated with his distant relative Vlad the Impaler. Advertisement The prince has no plans to move to Romania, The Telegraph reports. But he is a patron of the Mihai Eminescu Trust, which has renovated medieval houses and churches in Transylvania and works to keep traditional crafts alive. Charles reportedly plans to buy a house in Viscri, the village where the trust is headquartered, have it restored and then rent it to tourists to help build sustainable tourism in the area. Vlad the Impaler, a 15th century ruler in what is now Romania, helped hold off the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. While he was known for his bloodthirsty dealings with his enemies, he is a national hero in Romania. Advertisement Bram Stoker used Vlad, who supposedly ate bread soaked in his enemies' blood, as a model for Dracula. Charles' great-grandmother, Queen Mary, was said to be related to Vlad's family. Tattoo is alleged bandit's undoing NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A distinctive tattoo of a crown on his neck proved to be the undoing for a suspected serial cab-robber in New York. Two emergency medical technicians were dropping off a patient at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn when a man approached to ask where he could find a doctor. Medic Joseph McGuire said the crown tattoo sparked his memory of news reports of a man who had robbed six livery-cab drivers at knifepoint. His partner, Jose Martinez, confirmed his suspicions, and the pair called friends who are detectives. Police arrived just as the man was being thrown out of the hospital for being uncooperative with doctors, the New York Post reported. Rocky Collazo, 28, was arrested and charges against him were pending. L.A. clamps down on painted elephant LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The Los Angeles Animal Services department has ordered an elephant scrubbed free of its trunk-to-tail paint job for its role in an art exhibit. Advertisement The "Barely Legal" art show opened Friday, and featured a gold and red living room scenario created by the British artist known as Banksy. The elephant was painted in the same color scheme as the room as an embodiment of the metaphorical phrase "the elephant in the room," the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. In response to complaints from animal rights groups, Ed Boks, the general manager of the city's Animal Services Department ordered the paint removed Sunday morning. He said he was angry his department had ever issued a permit for the stunt and vowed, "This kind of frivolous abuse of animals" would not be repeated, the newspaper said. The company that rented the 38-year-old female Asian elephant named Tai scrubbed her down and she appeared in afternoon exhibits with bare skin, the Times said. Weed-eating goats prevent wildfires BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- California has traded Smokey the Bear for Smokey the Goat when it comes to preventing wildfires. Each day some 350 rented goats are eating weeds in Berkeley at the intersection of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Centennial drive adjacent to the University of California campus, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The weed-eating goats are the latest effort to prevent costly blazes in Northern California, one of the most fire-prone regions of the United States. Advertisement Tom Klatt, head of the office of emergency preparedness at the university, said the rented goats are saving some $800 a day that it would cost to hire landscapers to clear out the weeds. Klatt and others believe the hired goats are a key reason there hasn't been a major wildfire in the area since 1991 when 3,500 homes were destroyed at a rate of one every 11 seconds. In addition to doing a super job, officials report the public loves seeing the animals grazing right in the middle of their posh community.
