75mph + Coyote = ?

thescreensavers

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2005
9,930
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Meet the wiliest of all coyotes: Hit by a car at 75mph, embedded in the fender,road for 600 miles - and SURVIVED!

When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on. They didn't realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run. Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender - and very much alive.

Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12. When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping. 'Right off the bat, we knew it was bad,' Daniel explained. 'We thought the story was over.'

After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan - even stopping for fuel at least twice. But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained.

At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome. '[Daniel] saw fur and the body inside the grill,' Tevyn East said. 'I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote - it didn't register it was the whole animal.'

Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life. 'It flinched,' Tevyn East said. 'It was a huge surprise - he got a little freaked out.'

'We knew it was bad': Tevyn East, who was in the car when it hit the coyote, bends down to take a look at the fur poking through the fender.

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Fur Pete's sake: What Mr. East spotted as he bent down to inspect the damage to his car - the body of the coyote poking out through the radiator
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Wily coyote: The animal's head can be seen as rescuers took apart the front fender to save it after it was struck by the car at 75mph
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Miracle escape: As the animal struggled, wildlife protection officials put a loop around its neck to prevent it from further injuring itself.

The front of the car is completely taken apart as the coyote begins to wriggle free.
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And voila! Tricky the toughest coyote ever rests in a cage after its
ordeal - which it survived with just some scrapes to its paw.
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mechaniccoyote.jpg
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
92,805
13,851
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lol someone chop in a cardboard sign "Help!" with the coyote hold it up with one paw.
 

brblx

Diamond Member
Mar 23, 2009
5,499
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yeah, i'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit on that.

he went through a couple broken slats in the lower grill? then somehow made it to above the bumper support?
 
Sep 7, 2009
12,960
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yeah, i'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit on that.

he went through a couple broken slats in the lower grill? then somehow made it to above the bumper support?

I can understand that part - it looks like he broke all of the way through the bottom grill, and there's space between the radiator and bumper support.


I don't understand how they had a mildly injured coyote in their bumper through two gas stops and didn't look at the damage or whatever. See username.
 

EightySix Four

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2004
5,121
49
91
Does that car have an air dam to guide air to the radiator on the front? If so the coyote probably hit it and it went up and in between the grill and radiator.
 
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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
65,860
11,330
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Holy crap. I wonder how that's even possible, first off you'd think it would of did more damage to the car, and that it would of got sliced through the grill vertical supports (which only seem partially broken).

and I don't get why they did not check the damage further before driving on. Like really. If I would hit anything at that speed I'd want to pull over and see what kind of damage it did, and in the case of something living, I'd want to see if whatever I hit is ok, dead, or in need of help.
 

EightySix Four

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2004
5,121
49
91
Also, to me it is not terribly hard to believe that a quick glance a gas station where all you see is some fur in the grill is not going to cause someone to look closer until they have a way of getting said fur out.
 

EightySix Four

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2004
5,121
49
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The coyote was alive...

And he also didn't move until prodded with a broomstick. Do you see the pictures? From the front of the vehicle it looks a lightly damaged front end with some fur in between the slats. Pretty similar to how it looks when you hit an animal at speed and you know, actually kill it.
 

CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
5,401
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I'm going to call shens on the story too, but not the pictures. It just doesn't seem possible that an animal that size could get hit at ~75 MPH, and get thrown (crammed) into such a tiny space without MAJOR injuries. And as crazySOB pointed out, it didn't move until they poked it with a broomstick? They've been known to gnaw through a leg to escape a steel trap, so you'd think it'd be thrashing everywhere trying to free itself BEFORE they prodded it a bit.

To me it looks more like a coyote climbed into the engine bay / front bumper of a car either looking for mice (they're scavengers, but they will hunt for small game) or looking for a warm place to sleep. Then it got stuck, and owner of the car (possibly) took a ride without even knowing that it was there.

What's the source on the story?
 

PhoKingGuy

Diamond Member
Nov 15, 2007
4,689
0
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I creamed a possum yesterday with my GTI, I was pretty sure it would have fucked up my front end but there was absolutely nothing at all, shrug. Go VW painting process I guess
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
And the coyote survived 200 degrees for 600 miles and the car didn't overheat? Hmm...
 

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