A hospital in Finland is in hot water after one of its patients lodged a complaint after finding a mouse head in his plate of steamed vegetables.

While the health of the patient in Joensuu, eastern Finland, whose name was withheld, had not been endangered by the dead rat, Sakari Kela, chief administrator at the Northern Karelia Central Hospital said it was "understandable that he lost his appetite."

It's the Chinese Year of the Rat but it is unlikely the animal's status could be elevated above the sewer and loathsome level.

Never mind that last year's hit film Ratatouille showed their humorous - and culinary - side and that Mickey Mouse and Tom and Jerry have been a long-time favorites.

A ton of live snakes have been discovered by Vietnamese Customs officials onboard a plane from Bangkok.

Custom officials said the snakes were contained inside 60 boxes marked 'fresh fish,' onboard the cargo hull of a Thai Air plane.

The remains of a giant rat, estimated to weigh about a ton, was discovered in Uruguay proving that mammoth rodent once roamed the face of the earth some four million years ago.

Archaeologists said they have unearthed the half-meter long skull of the giant prehistoric rat, which by any standard, is bigger than a bull, in a chunk of rock in Rio de La Plata on the coast of Uruguay.

A mayor in the Philippines' financial capital on Thursday issued a threat to dump the city's garbage in front of the Metro Manila Development Authority, the agency tasked to dispose trash of the metropolis.

An angry Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay told the MMDA to solve Metro Manila's garbage or its office would have its own stinking problem.