Bobcat smashed inside car grille survives 50-mile road trip before rescued

A bobcat lodged into the front grille of a Toyota Prius survived a 50-mile journey in Virginia before animal rescuers brought the lynx to safety.

Christie Peters, director of Richmond Animal Care and Control, received a text from an officer on Thanksgiving morning, local station WTVR reported: "I’m on a call with a bobcat stuck in the grille of a car – and he’s still alive ... What do I do?"

Peters arrived to at the scene to find the cat tangled up in the car parked at Virginia Commonwealth University, according to the station.

The driver had traveled there from Gloucester County, about 50 miles east, before noticing.

A stick pole let Peters safely tranquilize the cat before transferring it 90 miles northwest to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro.

There, the 19-pound bobcat showed remarkably little head trauma and no visible wounds save a minor cut on the back, Waynesboro's WVIR reported.

The animal's now well on the road to recovery, Dr. Alexa Ortiz, an intern at the center, told the station, and should return to the wild in about a month.

"She was growling, baring her teeth at me," Ortiz said. "Definitely would like to leave."

See a Facebook post showing the cat from WVIR's Josh Fitzpatrick:

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner