A dog drowing in an icy river was rescued in Estonia and turned out to be a wolf
The other day workers at the Sindi Dam on the Pärnu River in Estonia saw an animal floundering desperately in the middle of the icy river.
The animal looked like a large dog and it was unclear how it got there, but the animal obviously needed help.
With a concerted effort, people managed to get to the dog and pull it to shore.
The animal, which looked like a large mutt, was very wet and cold, so they wrapped it in a cloth and then took it to the vet.
The animal felt perfectly calm in the car, so they continued to consider it a dog despite its very large size and weight. Several people had to be involved to lift the animal up the slope.
During the ride, one of the rescuers hesitated for a few seconds that it was a dog, noticing the animal’s paws. But because of the rescued man’s calm demeanor, he dismissed those speculations.
«He was lying quietly on my feet. When I picked them up to change his pose, he just moved his head a little.»
The vet clinic didn’t notice anything suspicious at first, either. But a local hunter, who happened to be there, dotted all the i’s and said that this was a real wolf.
The wolf turned out to be young, barely a year old, and quite healthy. He had not suffered from hypothermia.
The representative of the Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals (EUPA) said that the wolf had low blood pressure when he went to the vet, so maybe he did not show any aggression.
After the vets warmed the wolf up and examined him, he was fitted with a special collar with GPS and then released back into the wild.
«We are very happy for the safe outcome of this story, and we would like to thank everyone involved — especially these people who rescued the wolf, and the doctors at the clinic who were not afraid to treat and examine the wild animal,» the EUPA representative said.
