A fridge rat, a bondage spider and a Timbit-eating bear: Head-turning B.C. headlines from 2019

VANCOUVER — From the 2019 federal election to the cross-Canada manhunt for two teen murder suspects from small town B.C., there was no shortage of major news this year.

But there were also smaller stories that caught our eyes, made us scratch our heads, or in some cases, even caused us to laugh out loud.

There was the teenage boy who solved a decades-old cold case mystery, or the nurse who distributed a bizarrely explicit sex education guide to kids.

As the year draws to a close, CTVNewsVancouver.ca looks back at some of the more interesting headlines we've written this year:

Bondage spider

It's not often an article starts with the warning, "Contains some explicit cartoon images," but in June, a story about a sexual education guide handed out to elementary-school-aged children included that advisory.

The guide featured cartoon animals engaging in sexual activities, and is meant to make clear the risks of sex and drug use. The guide was passed out to Grade 6 and 7 students at a school in Creston by a public health nurse.

The school district said it wasn't part of the nurse's planned classroom discussion, and was given to kids interested in learning more. School staff apologized, and called the parents of every child in the class to discuss what happened.

Metallica saves a life

A Vancouver Island woman credited a heavy metal band with saving her life this summer. The Duncan, B.C., woman said she was walking with her dog when she sensed something was following them, and turned to find a cougar stalking her.

She tried making herself appear larger, and shouted at the big cat, but it was not until she started blasting Metallica's "Don't Tread on Me" that the cougar was scared off.

A couple weeks later, she got a call from the lead vocalist and got to thank him personally.

Boy solves cold case twice his age

It took a boy with a GoPro to solve a decades-old mystery in Revelstoke. Max Werenka, 13, used his camera to confirm it was a vehicle he'd spotted submerged in a lake in mid-August.

The body inside the vehicle was that of Janet Farris, a Vancouver Island woman who went missing 14 years before Werenka was born.

The discovery brought Farris's family closure, her son told CTV News.

Beating the heat?

When temperatures climbed to a toasty high in the mid-20s in July, it appeared one rodent found a way to beat the heat: by climbing into a 7-Eleven fridge.

Video showed the rat wiping its face with its paws while perched between the door and some drink bottles on the bottom shelf at a Vancouver franchise.

The boy who first noticed the resting rodent said he wasn't disturbed – he just thought it was funny.

Impounded in 10 minutes

A Coquitlam driver learned a hard lesson pretty quickly when his vehicle was impounded just 10 minutes after he left the dealership with it.

His 2019 McLaren 600LT was travelling 161 km/h in a 90 km/h zone, West Vancouver police said in June , and it was impounded at the scene. The driver was also handed a $368 ticket.

  

Aquaman gets stuck  

Actor Jason Momoa got stuck in a Vancouver hotel elevator for hours this summer, and broadcasted his predicament live to his 13 million social media followers.

He admitted to "trying to be like 'Die Hard,'" showing damage to the elevator car caused by an attempt to climb out, and said he and his entourage were stuck for two hours.

The group survived on M&Ms and beer, and was eventually freed.

Live deer in the liquor store

A man walks into a liquor store carrying a baby deer. It's not the set-up for a joke, it's what transpired at a store in B.C.'s Interior earlier this year.

The man was identified and conservation officials said he told them he'd found the fawn. Thinking it was abandoned, he took it with him.

But officials were soon able to find the young deer's mother, and it was released back into the wild.

The man was fined.

Décor 'edgy' or 'grotesque'?

The artwork at a Vancouver bar was the subject of a human rights complaint this year, with five employees describing the décor as part of an unsafe work environment.

Displays at The Basement include a print of a nude woman, drawings of breasts and neon signs with the F-word featured prominently.

A spokesperson for a union that helped launch the complaint called the décor "very grotesque and offensive to women," while the bar's female owner says she chose it herself and thinks it's "edgy."

'Please God Let it Be Herpes'

An anonymous employee used some of the Vancouver Public Library's stranger titles to bring laughs to book lovers with an Instagram account called VPLGold.

There are hundreds of photos of book covers, DVDs and CDs available at the library, with titles ranging from the wholesome-yet-confusing "Team-dance: A Guide to Canine Freestyle" to the eyebrow-raising mystery novel "Fingering the Family Jewels."

$50K for a parking spot

Call it a sign of the times. The cheapest listing on Realtor.ca for most of 2019 has been a single parking space for sale in Vancouver's Yaletown.

Unfortunately for those interested in expanding their real estate portfolio, the listing was no longer active as of December.

Dodgeball = oppression?

What do you think: is dodgeball a popular playground game or secretly a tool of oppression that unfairly targets some students?

Research presented by a trio from B.C. this spring described dodgeball as "tantamount to legalized bullying," in an interview with CTVNewsVancouver.ca.

But the group admitted it was anticipating criticism for those with a love of the game. They added they weren't suggesting dodgeball be banned, just that the pros and cons be discussed.

Corey Hart honours '87 tickets

A Metro Vancouver music fan's 1980s dream came true three decades later when Corey Hart not only honoured old tickets, but also pulled her up on stage.

Angela Countalos was 14 when she won a VIP meet-and-greet, and said she cried when the 1987 show was cancelled.

But she reached out to the '80s icon on Facebook, and was shocked when he responded, "Angela, don't worry. I'll set it up."

Fine for man who fed Timbits to bear

A Victoria man who posted photos of himself feeding bears Timbits and hot dogs on social media pleaded guilty this year to a charge under the B.C. Wildlife Act.

He'd posted online that he had a "thousand Timbits ready for bear feeding," and was quickly reported to conservation officials.

Following his plea, the bear feeder received a $2,000 fine, and was ordered to stay at least 50 metres away from bears for six months.

Most clicked in 2019

The above stories were head-turners, but not necessarily the topics that saw the most traction.

This year's most clicked articles and reports were:

Other articles among the most clicked include ongoing coverage of three northern B.C. homicides and a search for the teenage suspects. Read the most recent article on the case, posted on Sept. 27 and titled "RCMP answer burning questions about McLeod, Schmegelsky, 3 northern B.C. deaths."

The death of Carson Crimeni, a Langley teenager who overdosed near a skate park this summer, was another. Read the latest, posted on Dec. 9, following a report from B.C.'s police watchdog. At the time, Crimeni's father told CTV News he expects charges to be announced soon.