By Tim Binnall
Rescue workers in Germany are being celebrated after they freed a rotund rat that had somehow gotten stuck in a manhole cover. The strange scene reportedly unfolded on Sunday morning in the town of Bensheim when a little girl spotted the troubled creature trapped in the precarious position. Alas, when a representative from a regional animal rescue organization arrived, he found that the rat was firmly lodged in place thanks to "a lot of winter flab."
As such, he called in the local fire department for help and a team of workers was eventually able to set the chunky rodent free after lifting the manhole cover from the ground. Their fairly extensive effort to save the rat raised eyebrows among some observers who wondered about putting that much work into rescuing a creature that is largely vilified by society. To his credit, the animal rescue worker responded to these critics by musing "even animals that are hated by many deserve respect."