Pigeon survives 80-mile drive stuck in front grille of car

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in Britain said a pigeon is recovering after being struck by a car and surviving an 80-mile drive while trapped behind the front grille.

The East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service said the Cotterell family was traveling from their Hassocks, Sussex, home to spend the day in Bentworth, Hampshire, when they collided with the bird.

We were about 10 minutes away from Bentworth when we had what we thought was a near miss with a pigeon. We couldn't see the bird anywhere so thought the bird must have flown off. We had no idea the pigeon was trapped behind the grill for the rest journey and our return home later in the day," Katherine Cotterell told East Sussex WRAS.

The family drove all the way home before a pedestrian walking past their house alerted them to the pigeon's plight.

"It was only when a passing pedestrian knocked on our door in the evening that we noticed the pigeon behind the grill, so we phoned round and East Sussex WRAS said they would help," Cotterell said.

Trevor Weeks, operations director for East Sussex WRAS, responded to the home.

"At first I was not sure how the pigeon even managed to get inside as the grill appeared intact. It was only on closer inspection that you could see a crack in the grill which must have been caused by the force of the pigeon hitting it. I'm not surprised that they didn't notice it being in there," Weeks said.

The pigeon was taken to the organization's veterinary facility, where it was found to have a few minor injuries and a possible clavicle fracture. Officials said the bird is stable and is expected to make a full recovery.