A group of Estonian workers who rushed to rescue a dog trapped in a freezing river got a shock once they got the animal to the medical center. Turns out they had, in fact, been transporting a wild wolf in their car.
The men were working on the Sindi dam on the Parnu river when they spotted the animal trapped in the icy water and after clearing a path through the ice, they took the frozen beast to a clinic for medical care. Only then was it revealed they had been carrying a wolf.
The Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals (EUPA) said the wolf had low blood pressure when it arrived at the veterinarian’s office, which may have explained its docile nature after the men carried it to their car to warm it up, reports the BBC.
Speaking to the Estonian newspaper Postimees, one of the men, Rando Kartsepp, said:
“We had to carry him over the slope. He weighed a fair bit. He was calm, slept on my legs. When I wanted to stretch them, he raised his head for a moment.”
Veterinarians had some suspicions over the large dog’s true nature, but it was a local hunter, familiar with the region’s wolves, who finally confirmed it for what it was: a young male wolf, about a year old.
Clinic staff then put the wolf in a cage after treatment – in case it became less docile once it recovered.
Estonia is home to hundreds of wolves, only a handful of which have been collared in recent years. As a species, they usually avoid humans. It was picked as Estonia’s national animal last year by a group of nature organizations.
