WARNING: Some of the images in this story may be disturbing to some. Discretion advised.
After surviving a 20-minute drive stuck in the grille of a woman’s car, a coyote was released back into the wild by Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers.
While driving to work early in the morning on Sept. 3, Georgie Knox accidentally hit the coyote on the highway between Airdrie and Calgary.
“I heard a crunch and believed I ran over and killed it,” she explained in a Facebook post.
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But when she stopped at a traffic light, a construction worker told her the coyote was stuck in the grille of her car.
“When I got out to look, this poor little guy was looking up and blinking at me,” she wrote. “I notified Alberta Fish and Wildlife enforcement right away, who came to rescue him. Miraculously, he was freed and had minimal injuries, despite having hitched a ride from Airdrie to Calgary at highway speeds!”
Alberta Fish and Wildlife said the attending officer worked with members of the Calgary police to help free the animal and assess it.
“Their biologist checked him over and gave him the good to go,” Knox wrote.
“They released him in Kananaskis. Clearly, Mother Nature has other plans for this special little guy!”
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Fish and Wildlife said the animal showed no signs of injury or disease.
“The coyote also showed no signs of being habituated to humans,” the department shared in a Facebook post Tuesday. “With no concerns detected, the coyote was released back into the same approximate geographic area it came from but further west, away from traffic hazards.”
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It explained officers aren’t able to intervene in every case of injured wildlife, but in this case, they were able to help.
“Over and above his regular duties of catching poachers, the officer has been involved in many rescues over the years, but this was the first time he has seen a coyote stuck in the grille of a car.”