Never trust a wolf in sheep's clothing. Or as a group of good Samaritans discovered: a wolf in dog's clothing.
It's a lesson three construction workers from Estonia learned the hard way after rescuing what they believed to be a helpless dog trapped in the icy waters of the Parnu river.
After clearing a path through the ice, allowing the animal to swim back to shore, the three men dried it with a blanket, bundled it into their car and took it to a clinic for medical care.
It was there that they realised their mistake — it wasn't a dog at all, but rather, a young male wolf.
Though wolves have been known to attack humans, sometimes fatally, the animal was reportedly more interested in a snooze than a snack after its ordeal.
"He was calm, slept on my legs," one of the rescuers, Rando Kartsepp, told Estonian newspaper Postimees.
"When I wanted to stretch them, he raised his head for a moment.
"The experience was new. We hope he will be fine."
The wolf was ultimately treated for low blood pressure and hypothermia, before being placed in a cage and released back into the wild with a radio tracker.
The Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals (EUPA), which paid for the animal's treatment, thanked the rescuers for their bravery, alongside the "doctors of the clinic who were not afraid to treat and nurture the wild animal".
