Driver’s extraordinary discovery after 100km/h collision

A “terrified” joey has survived a 45-minute hair-raising trip stuck in a car grille with the vehicle travelling at speeds of 100km/h.

The joey was stuck in the car grille for 45 minutes. Picture: Hamilton Wildlife Shelter

It’s a miraculous story of survival.

A Victorian driver who was travelling at a speed of 100km/h discovered a joey peeking out at him from inside the car after the vehicle had unwittingly hit the animal 45 minutes earlier.

The young man hit the joey near Hawkesdale, in Victoria’s far southwest, but didn’t immediately pull over, Hamilton Wildlife Shelter owner and operator Shelly Burrowes wrote on Facebook.

It wasn’t until they reached their destination in Hamilton that “they decided to check the damage done to the front of the car – they heard a noise and discovered the joey,” she wrote.

The uninjured joey in their engine bay. Picture: Hamilton Wildlife Shelter

The joey was ‘terrified’. Picture: Hamilton Wildlife Shelter

The front grille of the vehicle had “popped aside” on impact, and Ms Burrowes said it was purely by chance that the little one survived.

“It appears he hit the grille in the exact spot that it cushioned his impact and he escaped injury,” she wrote. “He was sitting in the engine bay looking very confused.”

The little joey only weighed 3kg and incredibly did not have a single scratch on him.

“No broken bones, not even a blood nose despite being hit at 100km/h,” Ms wrote Burrowes. “How??!”

The joey is in a safe enclosure before it is released back into the wild. Picture: Hamilton Wildlife Shelter

Initially Ms Burrowes had hoped to keep the joey for observation but he was “not having a bar of being inside in captivity”.

She ended her Facebook post by saying it was a good reminder to pull over if you hit an animal.

“This little joey travelling in the engine bay for 45 minutes would have been terrified,” she wrote.

“A huge thanks to the members of public for calling for assistance, rather than just pulling him out and letting him go. He may be wild but he is safe and cared for regardless.”