Animals can be ideal companions unless they’re wild animals. Those you tend to leave them alone, but there’s a time when you should step up and approach these types of creatures, like when they’re injured. Unfortunately, most people don’t take the time to stop to see if they can lend a hand to a wild animal. This was certainly the case with one wolf who was having a really bad life. But then, an animal lover was driving around and noticed the wolf limping by the road and decided to check up on him to see if there was something that could be done for the poor creature.No one had realized that the animal had been hanging around the area for quite a while, and it was in a state of distress. But then, a driver decided to do the humane thing by stopping and examining the extent of the creature’s injuries.
Their small size makes it easier for them to survive the Arabian Peninsula’s warm climate. But unlike other wolves, the Arabian wolves don’t roam around in large packs. At most, they’ll be part of a group of two or four.
The number of these types of wolves is actually quite small. In Israel alone, there are only about 150 Arabian wolves left. Sadly, the main reason their numbers are low is because of their interaction with humans.
Farmers often deem these animals as a risk to their livestock, so they will resort to any means necessary to ensure that these wolves won’t put their farm animals in any sort of peril. But this has led to a decline in the population of these majestic creatures.
These wolves do enjoy meat, but they also don’t mind eating food waste left behind by humans. This suggests that they’ll roam near areas where people live, and it scares a lot of people who encounter the wolves.
It seems that these creatures tried biting visitors in the area, which infuriated locals and tourists alike. For the sake of public safety, nature reserve managers created traps that would deter the animals from getting too close, but some locals wished that these creatures didn’t exist at all.
In 2016, someone was driving in rural Israel, and they ran into one of these wolves with their car. But instead of stopping, the driver kept on going and left the animal on the side of the road to fend for itself.
Anyone who spotted him for a moment could tell that the wolf would not live long in this world unless he received help. But despite this obvious fact, no one seemed willing to stop to see if they could help.
Despite all the negative things they heard about the creature, they pulled over and tried to assess the injuries. But given the wolf’s condition, the driver wasn’t sure if there was much that could be done to save the animal.
They took the wolf to the Israeli Wildlife Hospital, which is located 25 minutes outside of Tel Aviv in the city of Ramat Gan. The hospital has a reputation for treating any animal that walks through their door, regardless of the species.
“If it’s wild we accept it. Doesn’t matter if it’s a snake or a weasel, a deer or a hyena.” They went on to further explain, “Our main aim is to return wild animals to nature, to preserve species, especially in a sensitive area like Israel.”
The hospital staff named the wolf Oliel and started working on a way to fix him. According to an x-ray, the animal had a broken leg, which meant that he would need surgery in order to ease his pain and fix the limb.
While the wolf was off in dreamland, the vets fixed his injury, but even after the operation was complete, they knew that the creature would still have a rough time with his recovery. Despite this, the surgery was successful.
Unfortunately, this meant that the wolf had to remain in a cage for his own good, as well as for the safety of the hospital staff. During his stay, the vets continued to monitor his progress to make sure that he was healing properly.
Oliel would need to prove to them that he was capable of resuming his old life. This meant that he would need to hunt in order to eat. But he would also need to be able to dash off at the first sight of trouble if he was to survive.
The creature was checked up by the vets one more time to be sure his injuries had healed. Then they prepared to return him to the wild. But, he still had one more hurdle to cross, and that involved getting in the vehicle that would take him home.
Given the sound that the truck made, it was obvious that this would likely remind Oliel of his unfortunate encounter with the vehicle that caused his injury months earlier. But fortunately, his old life would soon be over and his new one was about to begin.
The veterinarians opened the crate up and waited until the wolf walked out, but several moments had passed and the wolf hadn’t made his debut. The vets assumed that the creature was petrified and couldn’t move.
He jumped from his crate and ran off into the wild. The vets watched as the creature ran towards his freedom and it was obvious that he was overjoyed. Also, given the way he moved, it was difficult to tell that he had ever had a broken leg.
What started out as a sad event, turned into something wonderful thanks to the help of the driver that had brought Oliel to the animal hospital. The creature may not be able to say thank you in words, but the way he ran was a great way to express his gratitude.
