Dogs went woof over a Brazilian puppy love motel, an Australian trained mice to surf the waves and an Indian village married off toads in bid for rain.

　　In the world of the weird and wacky, the animal kingdom was the big winner in 2005.

　　It handsomely defeated incompetent thieves and misplaced corpses to take the prize for the year's most bizarre headlines.

　　A love motel for dogs in Sao Paulo proved a big hit with amorous Brazilian pooches, offering a heart-shaped mirror on the ceiling and headboards resembling doggy bones.

　　Shane Willmott trained his three mice -- Harry, Chopsticks and Bunsen -- to enjoy Australia's favourite sport with special mouse-size surf boards. He even dyed their fur so he could spot them among the crashing white waves.

　　Two giant toads were married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in eastern India by villagers hoping to please the rain gods and end a dry spell.

　　Peruvian officials saved 4,000 frogs from the cocktail blender after they were found hidden in an abattoir. In the Andes, frog cocktails are popular because of their supposed aphrodisiac qualities.

　　Finnish wolves with a taste for domestic dogs were given a nasty shock -- Helsinki shops started selling wired dog coats which sent 1,000 volts of electricity through the outer layer.

　　And in Germany, a woman burnt down her family home by setting fire to the garage when trying to kill spiders with a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter.

　　A German inventor sparked the fury of animal lovers with his macabre solution for soaring fuel costs.

　　Christian Koch concocted an organic diesel fuel that contained garbage and run-over cats among its ingredients.

　　He said around 20 dead cats added into the mix could help produce enough fuel to fill up a 50-litre (11 gallon) tank.