Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor:  Joseph Golder,  Agency: Newsflash

This is the heartwarming moment Russian rescuers save a seal that strayed inland before taking the marine mammal back to open water on a snowmobile.

The incident took place on Lake Tunaycha in Sakhalin, the largest island of the Russian Federation located just north of Japan, and the rescuers intervened after the seal reportedly strayed some 4.7 kilometres (2.9 miles) inland and was being hunted by a pack of wild dogs.

According to one of the rescuers, the seal was being hunted by a pack of wild dogs that they had to scare away to protect it.

The group then decided to take the seal to the nearest stretch of open water, located about two miles away from where they found the animal.

The video shows several men capturing the seal and taking it to a stretch of water on a snowmobile before releasing it.

At the end of the footage, the cute seal is seen waddling towards the water and disappearing from view.

According to Alexander Ivelsky, spokesperson for the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation in the Sakhalin Oblast region, the seal was lucky to survive the incident with the wild dogs.

He added: “In the end, the seal dove into the water and resurfaced a short while later. It seemed quite active and did not appear to need the help of a vet.”

It is unclear how the seal became lost so far from open water, but reports said it could because of the arrival of warm weather earlier than usual.

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