Angelo Bowers
On Wednesday, Robin Sillamäe, Rando Kartsepp and Erki Väli were doing dredging work on the Sindi dam when they spotted, what they thought was a almost frozen dog, trapped in the icy body of water, Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals revealed in a post shared on Facebook.
Kind-hearted Estonian workers rushed to rescue a dog in distress from a freezing river on Wednesday – unaware of the fact they were actually about to bundle a wild wolf into their auto.
Thinking fast, the men swiftly cleared a path for the animal, which allowed it to swim to shore, the post explained.
A wolf has escaped certain death after being dragged from a frozen river by builders who thought it was a dog.
But while there they were given the surprise news that their new four-legged friend was in fact a wild wolf.
One of the men, Rando Kartsepp, spoke to the Estonian newspaper Postimees. He told them that the wolf was perfectly calm in the vehicle: “We had to carry him over the slope. He weighed a fair bit”.
Vets kept the wolf in a cage in case he became less docile.
‘He was calm, slept on my legs.
He received treatment for severe hypothermia and shock and given drugs to fend off parasites. “When I wanted to stretch them, he raised his head for a moment”, he added.
It was only when a local hunter, who was more familiar with local wildlife, saw the animal that its true nature was revealed.
Estonia is home to hundreds of wolves, only a handful of which have been collared in recent years.
The Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals paid for its treatment and a spokesman said: ‘Luckily everything turned out well.’ It has now been released into the wild.
After surviving his brush with death, the wolf was fitted with a Global Positioning System collar and released back into the wild.
“We thank the heart of the young men who went to help this wild animal”, EUPA said.