How hard was it to pick just one $25 First Place Winner for Rhino Rules Contest #2: Animal Stories?

It was so hard, I've decided to add a Bonus Award, $2 for a shelf in SFT's library to each of the Top FIVE runners-up.

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AUTHORS: I am not allowed to request a shelf for you. You will have to send @ (oops, hang on) the link to your story, along with a brief author bio and a photo if you are not already at the Steemshelves. If you fail to do this, the $2 steem shelf will go to a future Rhino pick.
http://www.steemshelves.com/fiction/

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News Flash from @rhondak, whose Animal Rescue is the intended beneficiary of this contest:

It's the Steemshelves library, not SFT. {laughing emoji deleted}
And that's not where they send the links.
They send links through the Steemshelves website (www.steemshelves.com) (hyperlinks not working)

(Yes, I called it a News Flash, not a "Correction," because the Rhino is in charge of this post.)

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The best entries (suprise, surprise) all went through critiques by Fiction Workshop participants. It pays to get another pair of eyes on your writing. I had to let "too many typos" be a deciding factor on how to eliminate entries from the top five.

@Nexusfyre, "Taurophobia" stole my heart. I wanted to award First Place to Dexter, the Rottweiler. I love the clever title, the photo, the subject, and the honesty and authenticity of this "It Really Happened!" entry, which above all others fit my contest commentary: "Too Good to Be True" - real life is too good for fiction. I also loved seeing your entry go through the workshop to be polished and refined. In the end, I had to judge, and "fiction" was one of the tags, and your story reads more like nonfiction (essay, memoir). O Dexter! I love you, Dexter! I love all your dog stories, Nexufyre. All right, I love all your stories, period. Readers, visit Nexusfyre's steemshelf under "Fiction" for his "Tanabata" story.

"Taurophobia" doesn't have a steemshelf yet, but it will now.
I can't upload the photo Nexusfyre used, so I'll offer y'all a pixaby image by MISS_SUMMER 简体中文) in hopes Nexusfyre will come forth with the story of how Dexter saved the mother's life as well):

@bex-dk, "Shawnee and the Beast" made me laugh - and hardly any author achieves that accolade. The beast in the corner is named Justa, thinks the hard working service dog. You mastered this Border Collie's POV (Point of View, for non-fictioneering readers). E.g.
It seemed to have no eyes, but she stared it down anyway. Despite its small size, it had a gaping maw that opened wide with a rattle whenever one of her people brought a foot too near.
They fed it routinely, the foolish humans...

See more of Bex's incredible prose in contests she's entered, starting with The Saga of Misty Vale. My new favorite is "Blood Shame" - the ending literally gave me goosebumps (how many authors achieve that?), and the historical basis of the story is just horrifying. (The Rhino love-hates historical fiction for this reason.)

I never tire of @tinypaleokitchen's "Rainbow" series of Rescue Dog stories. Her tale of the dog fighters of Spain makes me wince and cringe. This one endears me because our canine heroine is not shown to suffer horrific abuse, and the ending is so satisfying: "A Clueless Collie: A Rainbow Story"

A honeybee is not an animal, but does the Rhino care? Not when a story is so endearing and well written. Don't miss this one:
@deltatrek "For the Hive"

How could I not award First Place to a story of a feral cat getting tamed and bringing a dead man back to life? You must read the author's note to the real-life side of this story. It's heart-rending. The ending, however, is inspiring and uplifting. See
@jonknight's "Mya And The Dead Man"

How did I select just one Number One winner? This story has it all. The author's footnote* on the real-life place is one of those horror-story news items that make me sick. Fists of Rage! Humans should never get away with such atrocities!

Congratulations, @thinknzombie - "Quick Silver" is splendid in all the ways fiction should be.

The prose is as lovely, lively and vivid as the dolphin heroine. Riveting conflict brings life-or-death stakes and the question of how far one might go to save someone who may not even "deserve" saving. The backstory, sparingly revealed, is brutal and necessary. (Remember the Rhino's rules on "gratuitious" violence? This is all germane.)

Oh: above all, the ending is not merely satisfying or happy. It is truly sublime.

*Author's Note:
The cove Silver Good-Fisher talks about in the story is a real place, as are the horrors Silver describes.

My daughter is interrogating me:

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Isn't that the same guy who won your first contest?

Um... yes.

Did he bribe you or flatter you?

No. (But feel free to start flattering the Rhino, Mr. Thinking Zombie!)

Is it fair to win twice in a row?

The best story wins. If Zombie keeps this up, I may have to recuse him from First Place as a matter of policy.

See more of this truly first-rate, polished, professional author's work at @thinknzombie's home page (go find it yourself: I've hyperlinked myself into exhaustion), and at his Steemshelf.

"Thinknzombie" is the Steemit handle of (click on the link if you want know his real name; Rhino won't tell). He can mostly be found writing fantasy and science fiction on the bus, or in some cafe in Tokyo, where he lives with his long-suffering wife and two children.

Thank you to all the authors for thoughtful, fitting, and well-written entries. They're all good. E.g.:

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@pegasusphysics, "Storytime With Blake - PegPup Synchronicity" is a fun story straight from the annals of Fiction Workshop. No spoilers from me, but involves the real-life story of an irresponsible pet owner dumping on someone else the care and feeding and vet bills of a mother dog with a litter of puppies. Oh, they're cute - but they cost money. Peg's twist on this tale is especially gratifying for members who experience Mind Meld and synchronicity on a daily basis.

@vegascomic "The Order Of The Inu - A Rift In The Future" is beautifully illustrated and wonderfully imagined. Had you submitted it to Fiction Workshop, not a single typo should have remained.

@steemitgraven2936 "Mattie and Tammy" thank you for a feel-good story. After all the abuse in other stories (outside this contest), I need something less brutal. Also, I love the parallels to our beloved @rhondak The Raccoon Whisperer.

@cizzo "The Discarded Puppy I love a happy ending. I also love typo-free prose. I'm happy to see you have joined Fiction Workshop.

@authorofthings Wind's Rainbow is so lovely, it's been curated, with more than $73 in upvotes, last I checked. This would never disqualify a contest entry. However, it does work as one more grain to tip the scale when considering the merits of each story and trying to declare just one the winner.