The news today reported a ferret had been caught at the end of the line, without a ticket. Micky, the adventure-seeking ferret, was caught red-handed disembarking at an Edinburgh station.
Station staff caught the friendly ferret which is now being cared for by the Scottish SPCA. The animal charity is urging his owner to come forward. Insp Jenny Scott, of the Scottish SPCA, told The BBC “he’s very friendly so he is obviously someone’s pet. We’d love to return him to his owner as I’m sure they’ll be missing him a lot.”
Although rodents can make friendly pets too they are more of a pest when it comes to hitch-hiking. A passportless rat wasn’t a welcome sight when it was spotted in an overhead luggage compartment as a plane was waiting to taxi down the runway. All 205 passengers were ordered off the Air Canada flight from Canada to Heathrow so the rat could be taken into custody. Worried that the rat may have gnawed electrical wires or other damage, the flight was cancelled and the passengers had to spend the night in a hotel.
In 2009 Qantas was forced to cancel two flights after four baby pythons escaped from a container in the cargo hold. Twelve non-venemous Stimson pythons were travelling from Alice Springs to Melbourne but when the flight landed, only eight snakes were in the container. The aircraft was grounded and a thorough search conducted for find the four 6-inch escapees. The snakes, which can grow up to three feet long, were never found. One theory was that because the plane food was so unappetising, the other snakes ate them for lunch?
A flight from London to Heathrow was fumigated after a passenger claimed to have spotted a tarantula. The plane was searched but again the stowaway become a runaway and no-one found it.
Earlier this month spiders created havoc for Mazda Motor Corp who recalled 52,000 cars because of a yellow sac spider infestation in the emission system. The National Highway Safety Commission said the spider webs may restrict a vent line, which could cause the emissions control system to increase pressure in the fuel tank. The build-up of webs in the emission systems could lead to fuel tank cracks and possible leaks.
Our blogger Ben discusses hitchhiking rats and cockroaches in India, but here’s a YouTube video of the most famous pest hitch-hiker of the year so far which has gone viral and made the ABC news.
The ultimate hitch-hiking award must go to bed bugs. We were recently called out to treat a beautiful, country house hotel. A celebrity guest and her entourage had flown in from New York and spotted the bed bug in the presidential suite. After a bit of detection work we deduced that she had brought an unwanted souvenir back with her.
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