On Thursday, Florida’s Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office received an emergency call from Cody’s owner. Somehow, the dog had gotten himself trapped in a swamp, and judging from his desperate cries, was helpless in returning to drier land without assistance.

Fortunately for Cody, Deputy Matt Patellis soon arrived to help.

After stripping off his uniform, Patellis proceeded to wade into the foreboding waters — a potential hangout for alligators — with one goal in mind: Save Cody. And after cajoling the frightened canine, that’s exactly what he did.

Here’s a video of the rescue:

Goacher lives in England where, in many parts of the country, native species like foxes have been forced to adapt to urban life. Their close proximity to humans, and perceived aloofness as scavengers, have given foxes a negative reputation with some folks.

Early on, Goacher was one of them.

“My family and I have had fox visitors for years, but like a lot of people we believed they were dangerous creatures and that they’d be a danger to our cats,” Goacher told The Dodo. “But a few years ago we realized how gentle they really are.”

If your dog is already conditioned to a noisy or raucous environment, he may have no problem with the booming. However, dogs are far more sensitive to fireworks’ vibrations than humans, so it’s best not to take any chances.

“It’s the loudness of the fireworks themselves and the vibrations — the percussion of those fireworks — that they feel,” Gicking tells The Dodo. “Especially for animals who live in homes that are somewhat quiet.”

If noise isn’t an issue for your pet, he may still have trouble adjusting to the excitement surrounding the festivities, notes Victoria Cussen, director of anti-cruelty behavior research for the ASPCA.

“Fireworks also often accompany other loud gatherings or events, which can be confusing or upsetting to pets,” Cussen tells The Dodo. “Animals do well with consistency, so fireworks and the celebrations they come with can catch animals off guard.”

So how do you help your dog make it through the holiday? Here’s how to keep your pup safe and still celebrate the red, white and blue.

Luna is obsessed with hedgehog toys. Big ones, small ones, old ones, new ones — the 1-year-old pit bull mix loves them all.

“We couldn’t really figure out ‘why hedgehogs,’” Alexa Ferguson, Luna’s mom, told The Dodo. “She has a variety of different sizes and colors, but I’d say she’s probably got like 10 hedgehogs.”

Last week, while aboard a crab-fishing boat off the coast of Labrador, Canada, Mallory Harrigan and her colleagues noticed something unusual. There, about 4 miles from shore, was a rather sizable mushroom-shaped iceberg — and it had an unwitting passenger stranded atop it.

“We thought it was a baby seal,” Harrigan told The Dodo.

But then they got a closer look.

Jose and Jocelyn Pascual were hanging out inside their home one day when they started to hear tiny meows coming out of nowhere. They searched and searched, trying to find where the sound was coming from — and soon realized it was coming from their chimney.

Once they realized there was a kitten stuck inside the chimney, the couple spent three days doing everything they could think of to try and rescue him, but nothing was working. Finally, the couple’s niece decided to contact Hope for Paws to see if it could help, and rescuers Loreta Frankonyte and Eldad Hagar drove out in the middle of the night in hopes of freeing the very stuck kitten.

“He is such a sweetheart. I could not ask for a more humble, easygoing, laid-back cat,” Latham said.

Most people would have seen Battle Cat and assumed he was a lost cause. Latham knew he deserved a chance, though, and now he’s blossoming into the cutest, friendliest cat, and his new mom can’t wait to see all the progress he’s going to make as he continues on his journey to recovery.

He decided to call her Chica. That night, when he was back at his hotel, Kalmbach scoured the internet to find an animal rescue group that might be able to help him and Chica. He came across Unidos Para Los Animales.

Kalmbach contacted the rescue’s founder, Linda Green, who agreed right away to get Chica some vet care, immunizations and paperwork to fly home to Kalmbach in California if Kalmbach could find her again. After all, the rescue regularly flies dogs to California to find homes each year. It was meant to be.

With a plan in place, the next step was to track Chica down. He searched and searched the village with no luck — so he asked a group of children for help. The kids seemed to instantly recognize Chica’s picture and guided Kalmbach around, street after street. After two hours of walking, they led him into the town dump.

“They said they typically don’t handle the coyotes,” McChesney said. “And I said, ‘OK. Well, what am I supposed to do?’ And they said, ‘Can you just shoo it outside?’ I said, ‘Sure, but he’s in the neighborhood. He’s going to get hit by a car or go into someone else’s house. This is not a coyote area. This will just be someone else’s problem.’”

The WDFW official even suggested that McChesney shoot the coyote, but McChesney balked at the thought.

“That wasn’t even close to an option,” McChesney said. “I wouldn’t even consider that.”

With the help of the Kennewick Police Department, McChesney finally got in touch with Don Caraway, a state-authorized wildlife control officer, who arrived at McChesney’s home with a metal cage.

The bears are owned by Rosaire’s Bears, a company that trains wild animals for entertainment and moves them around the country to perform at different locations. This performance, which was captured in a video, took place in April at the Shrine Circus in Bangor, Maine.

“This is run-of-the-mill for circus acts,” Debbie Metzler, a captive wildlife specialist for the PETA Foundation, told The Dodo. “The two bears, believed to be Indian and Chopper, were almost constantly slapped, poked and jabbed. They were pulled hard by leads, and coerced to walk and sit like humans, push carts and climb ladders, which are all things that can lead to muscle and joint pain, injury and even chronic psychological distress.”

A man was walking along the shoreline in Honolulu, Hawaii, when he spotted something piled up on the shore.

As Samuel Etrata got closer, he realized that the pile was composed of small silvery bodies with distinctive heads — they were baby hammerhead sharks. And there were dozens of them, all dead.

It depends on the severity, but the quill removal can take several hours. Sometimes all the quills can’t be safely removed, and a doctor will have to monitor the dog afterwards to watch for signs of infection.

While most porcupine-related injuries are not life-threatening, waiting too long to treat the situation can have unfortunate consequences.

“Since quills carry bacteria, infection and abscesses are a serious risk,” Gorman says. “Quills can also get stuck in various dangerous locations around the body, including the pet’s eyes, joints or organs. Depending on the nature of the injury, it can result in serious complications, which is why it’s important to have your dog treated as soon as possible.”

“I had stayed in touch to send her photos of my two polydactyl bobtail sisters that were adopted through [the ]rescue about a year before,” Jeanne, Doby’s new mom, told The Dodo. “I saw his little bat face and that was it. We didn’t know a lot about him at first, so we did our research on cerebellar hypoplasia and cleft palates to make sure our home was safe and accessible for him.”

Since Doby was small for his age and had some special needs, he had to be fostered for a few months before he could be adopted, but once he was finally declared healthy, his new parents welcomed him into their home with open arms. His foster family did a great job of helping him come out of his shell, and by the time he came to his forever family, he had grown into a spunky, playful little cat.

“His foster mom is the absolute best and we are so thankful that she took a scared and anxious little kitten and taught him to love and trust people,” Jeanne said.

A woman was looking out her window into her backyard one evening when she noticed someone playing on her family’s trampoline — and quickly realized it was a very stuck little fox.

It seemed the fox had been jumping around on the trampoline, just trying it out, when he somehow got one of his back legs stuck in the springs of the trampoline and couldn’t figure out how to free himself. Concerned, the woman quickly contacted the RSPCA, hoping it could help the very confused little fox.

Tensions were high at Australia’s Adelaide Airport on Wednesday evening after a suspicious bag was found to have been left unattended near some restrooms. Naturally, the bright pink package triggered airport security protocol, and soon a bomb squad was on the scene to investigate.

But, as it turns out, what they found inside wasn’t dangerous at all — well, unless you happen to be a carrot.