A cleaning service is using its app to offer London home owners with mice problems the chance to foster a cat for free, in order to get rid of rodent invaders.
Handy, an on-demand cleaning and DIY service, has partnered with animal charity Wood Green to offer rescue cats in need of temporary foster homes, as their very presence and scent – undetectable to the human nose – has been proven to scare away mice.
Users of Handy’s app will be able to choose from a selection of cats available, and foster one for free. (PA)
Great Escape Spitfire up for sale
An RAF Spitfire once flown by a veteran of the Great Escape and painstakingly restored over five years is expected to fetch up to £2.5 million at auction.
The legendary fighter aircraft, dubbed the ballerina because of its grace in the skies, was originally piloted by Old Etonian Peter Cazenove during the evacuation of Dunkirk.
He was shot down by a single bullet on May 24 1940 and, despite radioing in to say “Tell mother I’ll be home for tea!”, he crashed down on the Calais coast and was captured. As he was marched off to a German prisoner of war camp his plane remained buried in the sandy beach for decades. (PA)
Ringtone helps rescue ducklings
A duck call ringtone has helped a US firefighter rescue six ducklings from a storm drain.
Even with the realistic, reassuring quacking sounds coming from his mobile phone, it took Cody Knecht about 90 minutes to catch the first four baby mallards in the southeast Louisiana community of Slidell.
Chad Duffaut of St Tammany Fire District said Knecht rescued the others after giving them about an hour to calm down, then all six ducklings were reunited with their mother in the canal behind a home, where people reported seeing the babies go into the drain. (PA)
Fantastic fans keep show alive
The off-Broadway phenomenon The Fantasticks will not be closing next month after all – thanks to a pair of fantastic fans.
Two donors have stepped up and pledged to keep the stalwart, low-tech show open, producer Catherine Russell said. Plans had been made for the show to close after some 20,000 performances on May 3, the 55th anniversary of the show’s opening in 1960.
“Neither donor knows the other and both want to remain anonymous,” Russell wrote in an e-mail. “They both just have loved the show for many years and were heartbroken and furious at me for deciding to close it without discussing it with them.” (PA)
Slogan contest for manure show
Entries are piling up for a slogan contest being held this year by the North American Manure Expo. The trade show, now in its 13th year, showcases the latest technology in manure handling, treatment and application. It’s being held in July in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
An official event slogan has already been settled on: “2015 Manure Expo: Manure than you can Handle!” It will appear on the front of a T-shirt. But contestants are vying to land a spot on the back of the T-shirt, which event organisers say will display 10 of the “crappiest” also-rans.
Suggestions include “Manure Expo, where nobody stands behind their product”, “The future of what’s left behind!” and “We do doo. Do you?”. (PA)
Coyote captured in Manhatten
Police captured a young, female coyote outside a cafe in a residential area of lower Manhattan on Saturday, the latest in a series of coyote sightings in New York City, where an increasing number of the predators are making their home.
An emergency operator fielded a 911 call early Saturday morning reporting a coyote sighting at North Cove Marina near Battery Park City, said Detective Annette Markowski, spokeswoman for the New York Police Department. (Reuters)