A Labrador retriever that consumed a pesticide-soaked beehive containing thousands of dead bees—and lived—has something else to gnaw on: this year's Veterinary Pet Insurance Co.'s Hambone Award.

The Brea, Calif.-based company awards its annual trophy to the most unusual pet insurance claim of the year. Nearly 3,000 people visited VPI's website during the first two weeks of August to choose among a dozen nominees for the bronze trophy.

The insurer, a unit of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., named its award in honor of an insured doggie that got stuck in a refrigerator and consumed an entire Thanksgiving ham before being found suffering from a mild case of hypothermia.

The dog licked the hambone clean, VPI said.

Ellie, this year's winner, also is a voracious pet. The young Labrador from Santee, Calif., also has consumed wooden toy train tracks and laptop computer keys.

“So the beehive was just another culinary adventure for this insatiable pooch,” VPI said in a statement. “Unfortunately for Ellie, the recently sprayed beehive was full of pesticides and thousands of dead bees, and that combination sent her to the veterinary hospital.” But after a veterinarian administered anti-nausea medication, Ellie went home to meals of chicken and rice.

A border collie that leaped through a window to reach a mailman garnered the second-place award, and a terrier that tried to bite a running chain saw won third place.