Workers Rescue a Dog From Freezing Water and Rush It to a Clinic, but They’re Yet to Discover It’s a Wild Wolf

A few men were working on the Sindi Dam in Estonia when they suddenly noticed a dog that got caught in an ice trap in the frozen river. The workers took the canine out of the river, warmed it in their car, and took it to a clinic. What they found out about the animal later was something that turned a simple rescue story into quite an extraordinary experience.

Our hearts melted here at Bright Side when we learned of this story about kind people and an unusual animal, and we can’t wait to share it with you!

When kind-hearted workers Rando Kartsepp, Robin Sillamäe, and Erki Väli saw a dog struggling in freezing cold water, they didn’t think twice and rushed to help. The men cleared a path through the ice so that the animal could swim and reach the bank, and then took it to their car to warm it up.

The dog seemed docile, and the men decided to take it to an animal clinic for further medical care. “He was calm, slept on my legs. When I wanted to stretch out, he raised his head for a moment,” said Rando Kartsepp.

Doctors at the clinic gave the dog a quick checkup, and concluded that it was suffering from severe hypothermia. Even the staff at the animal hospital didn’t realize whom they were actually dealing with at the moment. It wasn’t until a local hunter cleared the matter up, that the men realized they had actually rescued a wild wolf. After realizing they were dealing with a wolf, the doctors made a decision to put the animal into a cage.

“At first, he was so worn out he didn’t resist at all. We simply kept him in a room. But once he started to get an idea of the situation, I felt things might quickly take a turn for the dangerous. So we got him into a cage,” said Tarvo Markson, the head of the clinic.

Luckily, the wolf recovered from hypothermia and stress within a day. The Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals (EUPA) paid for the animal’s treatment and shared this amazing rescue story in a Facebook post. The wolf was eventually fitted with a GPS collar and released back into the wild.

“We are so happy for the outcome of the story and wish to thank all the participants — especially these men who rescued the wolf and the doctors of the clinic who were not afraid to treat and nurture the wild animal,” EUPA said.

Estonia is home to a large number of wolves, so much so that it was even picked as the national animal of the country. As a species, however, wolves tend to avoid humans and only a few of them have been collared in recent years.

What do you think of this rescue story? Would you dare to help a wild animal by yourself or would you call emergency services?