Police Share Photo of 'Big Bad Wolf' Captured Near Oklahoma Day Care

Residents in Oklahoma alerted the police after they believed they saw a wolf outside a day care center.

Oklahoma City Police Department (OCPD) officers were notified that a wolf was seen close to a day care in the northern part of the city, but according to the Oklahoma Historical Society, certain species no longer exist in the state, including the gray wolf.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the gray wolf population in Oklahoma as being endangered. It added, however, that a new court order in February placed gray wolves outside of the Northern Rocky Mountain population under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

This means hunting, wounding, trapping, or collecting a wolf without a permit is now prohibited under federal law.

When Oklahoma City police arrived to the scene, they realized the "big bad wolf" they encountered was little more than a "cuddly puppy."

An OCPD spokesperson said in a Tuesday Facebook post: "When officers arrived they learned that our partners at The Village Police Department recently had a report of a resident who lost their pet. An 85 percent wolf and 15 percent Alaskan Malamute mix.

"Sgt. Stanley with help from its owner was able to convince the very cordial Canis lupus (wolf) to join him in his squad car and pose for selfies. The canine was safely reunited with its owner."

Newsweek has contacted the OCPD for comment.

Wolves have captured the imagination of people across the world who view the animal as representing a healthy wildlife environment.

In 2020, a pack of wolves was spotted in Colorado for the first time in more than 70 years, prompting conservationists to warn that without proper protections the animal could be in danger.

Wolves also returned to Denmark for the first time in some 200 years after a male was spotted wandering in Jutland, a peninsula bordering Germany.

Since that sighting, researchers waited to see if the male wolf would come across a female. Years later, they no longer needed to speculate as the first wolf pack was spotted in the Scandinavian country for the first time in centuries.

In Normandy, France, a European gray wolf was seen in that region of the country for the first time in a century. The image of the lone canine was taken overnight in Londinières, a village northeast of Normandy, on an infrared camera.

The French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) said it is likely a gray wolf (Canis lupus), but cautioned that additional information is needed to confirm the sighting.