by 2019 in news: The alternative end-of-the-year awards
Congratulations, you've made it through another year of news.
We know it wasn't always easy, so here's a reward: our round-up of the moments that put a little smile on our faces in 2019. Many of them, inevitably, involve animals.
Animal rescue of the year
Winner
Spare a thought for the poor fat rat of Bensheim, which became stuck in a German manhole in February. She was eventually freed, but not before passers-by took embarrassing photos of her plight. "She had a lot of winter flab," one rescuer said, compounding the humiliation.
Runner-up (1)
Oil rig workers 220km (135 miles) off Thailand's coast got a shock in April when they spotted a brown dog paddling in the sea, possibly after falling from a trawler.
They plucked him to safety and named him Boonrod, a Thai word that roughly translates as "the saved one" or "survivor".
Runner-up (2)
In this case, the animals were the rescuers rather than the rescued (sort of).
Anticipating the threat of wildfires later in the year, staff at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California hired a hungry herd of 500 goats to eat flammable scrub around the building in May.
And so, when fires did strike in October, the library was saved because of the fire break the goats had created by eating the flammable scrub. Nice one, goats.
The 'picture says it all' prize
Winner
Back in August, millions of you read about the adventures of five-year-old Lucie, whose before-and-after photos from her first day back in school were picked up by a newspaper in her native Scotland, then shared around the world.
When her mum saw her return home, she asked what Lucie had been up to. "Nothing much," came the reply.
Check out the link for more
Congratulations, you've made it through another year of news.
We know it wasn't always easy, so here's a reward: our round-up of the moments that put a little smile on our faces in 2019. Many of them, inevitably, involve animals.
Animal rescue of the year
Winner
Spare a thought for the poor fat rat of Bensheim, which became stuck in a German manhole in February. She was eventually freed, but not before passers-by took embarrassing photos of her plight. "She had a lot of winter flab," one rescuer said, compounding the humiliation.
Runner-up (1)
Oil rig workers 220km (135 miles) off Thailand's coast got a shock in April when they spotted a brown dog paddling in the sea, possibly after falling from a trawler.
They plucked him to safety and named him Boonrod, a Thai word that roughly translates as "the saved one" or "survivor".
Runner-up (2)
In this case, the animals were the rescuers rather than the rescued (sort of).
Anticipating the threat of wildfires later in the year, staff at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California hired a hungry herd of 500 goats to eat flammable scrub around the building in May.
And so, when fires did strike in October, the library was saved because of the fire break the goats had created by eating the flammable scrub. Nice one, goats.
The 'picture says it all' prize
Winner
Back in August, millions of you read about the adventures of five-year-old Lucie, whose before-and-after photos from her first day back in school were picked up by a newspaper in her native Scotland, then shared around the world.
When her mum saw her return home, she asked what Lucie had been up to. "Nothing much," came the reply.
Check out the link for more
hahaha 
by 
61-BLUES
