Airline Passenger Accused Of Killing Critter

An airline passenger who had a layover at St. Louis-Lambert Airport while flying from New York to Phoenix has been arrested for allegedly killing a pet ferret smuggled onto the plane. Other passengers had noticed the animal hidden in a cooler onboard the flight. They alerted airline employees who confronted the passenger and offered to take the weasel-like critter to an animal shelter. Airline rules require pets to be shipped as cargo. Authorities say when he was confronted, the man claimed to have taken the ferret to an airport bathroom, killed it, and flushed it down a toilet. No word yet whether the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office plans to charge the man with animal abuse.