Similar cases have also happened in Vehmaa and Nousiain during the autumn. In the end, Veijo Jalonen’s dog survived with minor injuries, but the animal’s life was at stake.
The dog had time to go about half a kilometer from the vicinity of the pass line, when the hunters noticed from the GPS tracking that it was behaving strangely.
– The dog stopped, moved about 50 meters and stopped again. Then we heard barking from the forest and we wondered if it was a moose after all. Then a strange screeching followed and we decided to go and see when everything was clearly not normal, says Jalonen.
The hunters started to approach the dog and after about a hundred meters, Jalonen started to call the dog over. However, the dog started moving in a completely different direction.
– Then one of the passport officers announced that a wolf had just passed his place. After that, the dog’s howling got louder and louder. The emergency came when you realized that there are wolves in the forest, says Jalonen.
The wolves surrounded the dog
According to the GPS, the dog stopped in the middle of the field and the hunters followed.
– From the end of the field I saw three wolves in the middle of the field, but no dog was visible. I screamed and ran towards the wolf. I called the dog I saw among the wolves, says Jalonen.
The wolves moved from the middle of the field to the edge of the field. Jalonen made the dog come to him. He believes that the animal’s life was momentary. In total, the whole situation took about half an hour.
In the end, the dog survived with relatively minor injuries. There was a wound on the muzzle, but there were no other injuries. The dog received an antibiotic from the vet and is now recovering from the situation.
According to Jalonen, who has worked as a predator contact person in the area for years, there have been other similar cases this fall, although this is a rather rare situation. Similar situations have happened this autumn in southwestern Finland also in Vehmaa and Nousiain.
– Yes, I was so scared when I realized that there were three wolves in the field and my own dog in the middle, Jalonen sighs.
– I didn’t really think rationally when I started running towards the wolf, he says.