An Airdrie woman who thought she had struck and killed a coyote on her way to work was surprised to find the animal peering back at her from the grille of the car.

Georgie Knox detailed the unusual trip to work in a Facebook post which has since gone viral with more than 178,000 shares.

"When I got out to look, this poor little guy was looking up and blinking at me," wrote Knox in her post.

Brendan Cox, spokesman for the province's fish and wildlife enforcement branch, said an officer was called to the scene, along with officers from the Calgary Police Service.

Cox said the officer arrived to find the animal lodged in the grille but otherwise uninjured. It was looking around.

"First the officer checked the animal for signs of injury and luckily there weren't any," he said. "It didn't show any signs of disease either and also it didn't seem to be habituated to humans."

The officer was able to dislodge the animal and get it into a cage to transport it outside city limits.

Cox said the animal was released in the same area it came from, although further away from any major roads.

Knox's Facebook post elicited a lively debate as to whether or not she should've checked on the animal right away after striking it.

She assumed that it had died instantly, and knew her car was still working fine so she continued on.