And other stories from the stranger side of life
A growing number of pet owners believe that their beloved animals go to heaven, new research has found. After examining the history of pet cemeteries in Newcastle and London over 100 years from 1881, Dr Eric Tourigny said: “Few 19th-century gravestones reference an afterlife, although some may ‘hope’ to see their loved ones again. By the mid-20th century, a greater proportion of animal gravestones suggest owners were awaiting a reunion in the afterlife.”
Pastor accused of peeing on woman during flight
A US pastor has been detained after allegedly urinating on a fellow passenger during a Delta flight earlier this month. A police report says Daniel Chalmers was arrested at the Detroit Metro Airport after a passenger told police she woke up on the plane around 2.45am to find a man urinating on her. The man reportedly admitted: “I peed on her, I thought I was going to the bathroom.”
Birmingham is Britain’s ‘rattiest’ city
A survey of 3,400 callouts by a pest control company has revealed that Birmingham has more rat infestations than anywhere else. Newcastle and Leeds came in second and third places respectively. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, say the researchers, “rats are loving life at the moment” because “they are being left to breed in vacant shops with abandoned bins”.