Scrappy animals beating incredible odds
Some animals are so resilient that they refuse to give up, no matter how awful the odds.
This 12-year-old retriever, named Smiley, was born without eyes. Yet this pooch has managed to not only survive (he'd once been scheduled for euthanasia) but also thrive.
Smiley now helps others as a certified therapy dog in Canada.
Best friends save each other
In July 2015, a heartbreaking photo of two shelter dogs hugging went viral. The dogs, Kala and Keira, were just one day away from being euthanized at a shelter when Georgia rescue group Angels Among Us Pet Rescue posted their picture online, which spread like wildfire across social media.
Its caption read: "I'm Kala. This is Keira. We're so scared in here... today is our deadline. We have to have someone rescue us or we'll be "next"... If no one saves us, someone will take her away from me. I'll see her as she goes down the hallway. She won't come back and I'll cry. They'll come for me next and I won't be as brave. We've comforted each other while we were here. She gave me hope when I had none. Now it's over."
The post shattered the hearts of dog lovers across the country, but the dogs have yet to find a "forever family" and are now living in a temporary foster home waiting to be adopted.
Beached shark saved
This seven-foot great white shark found itself stranded, while trying to catch seagulls on a beach in Chatham, Massachusetts, July 13, 2015.
Rather than run in the other direction, beachgoers rallied together to help the animal struggling on the sand to safety. Together with the Chatham Harbormaster and experts from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, they successfully dragged the shark back into the water, revived it, and led it back out approximately one mile into the ocean.
New life for old lobster
A fisherman in Long Island netted this enormous 23-pound lobster in July of 2015; but when it arrived at Long Island's Jordan Lobster Farms for sale, a miraculous thing happened. Customers seemed more interested in taking photographs with it than eating it.
New life for old lobster
While it's nearly impossible to calculate a lobster's age exactly, fishermen can take educated guesses. And based on this mammoth crustacean's weight and size, experts estimate its age at a staggering 95 years old. That's nearly a century!
So, Jordan Lobster Farms owner Stephen Jordan has decided to donate it to the Long Island Aquarium, rather than waste all that history on a customer's dinner plate.
Dennis - obese dog
Less than 2 years ago, this dachshund, Dennis, weighed 56 pounds and could barely walk.
Ohio nursing student Brooke Burton adopted the little fella and put him on a diet. This week, fans of Dennis learned that he's managed to lose 75 percent of his body weight.
Perch miracle
Bushfires nearly cooked this Aussie koala in 2002. But she managed to endure the flames, and, in the process, earn a new name from her adoptive owners: Perch Miracle.
Cheyenne - cross-country cat
This black cat, named Cheyenne, has crossed quite a few paths. After going missing from a Florida home in 2004, Cheyenne was eventually found ... across the country in San Francisco.
Cheyenne was eventually reunited with owner Pamela Edwards.
Neville Bardos - survived a fire
In 2011, a deadly barn fire nearly killed event horse Neville Bardos.
Despite badly scorched lungs and other injuries, the horse rallied and became a world-class jumper with the help of equestrian Boyd Martin.
"Miracle Dog"
Daniel, better known as "Miracle Dog," got his nickname in 2011 after surviving a date with a dog pound gas chamber.
Joe Dwyer of New Jersey eventually scooped up the pup and became his new owner.
Clyopa, Plyusha - rejected by parents
Wild cubs are often rejected by their parents for a host of reasons. Siberian tiger cubs Clyopa and Plyusha suffered just that fate in Russia in 2012.
Cleopatra, a shar pei dog, took them in and nursed them.
Opossum - car accident victim
This female opossum was hit by a car in Massachusetts in February 2015.
But she, and the 10 young she was carrying in her pouch, defied her injuries -- and subzero temperatures that left her frostbitten.
Turtle - artificial limb
Workers at the Israel Sea Turtle Rescue Center have managed to do something extraordinary: supply an artificial fin for this injured male green sea turtle.
The procedure took place last year, and now the turtle can swim with the best of 'em.
Baltic - survived ice floe
A thick coat doesn't guarantee survival for dogs trapped in freezing conditions. And yet Baltic, a Polish dog, survived several days on an ice floe in 2010.
The offending ice sheet had carried Baltic at least seventy five miles down the Vistula River and out to sea.
Bionic pig
Shown here in 2013, the Florida-based potbellied pig known as "Chris P. Bacon" has a unique claim to fame.
Bacon was born without the use of his back legs, but his owners gave him a special harness that allowed him to walk.
Wheelchair-bound dog
In 2011, this dog, named Ciuchcia (or "steam train engine") was hit by not one, but several, trains.
He received a specially made wheelchair at an animal shelter in Poland.
Waterlogged hedgehog
The year 2002 saw some of the worst -- and deadliest -- flooding that eastern Germany had ever seen. That didn't daunt this hedgehog, who survived and was eventually rescued from the waterlogged streets.
Precious panda triplets
Panda births are rare. Births of panda triplets? Nearly unheard of.
Survival of all three triplets? Something close to a miracle. And yet here they are -- three giant panda sibs, born in China in 2014.
Scrappy handicapped monkey
BoonLua, a 6-year-old wild monkey, lost both its legs and one arm during an attack by dogs in 2005.
It dragged itself to a Thai temple, where it survived and befriended Toby, a rabbit.
Humboldt penguin escapes hunters
Back in 2011, Humboldt penguin Tomas got separated from his colony and found himself lost in his native Peru.
The bird dodged a nearly certain death at the hands of hunters (who seek the endangered Humboldt penguins for meat) before meeting up with a rescue boat that took him back home.