Pwllheli: Lucky rabbit survives 40-mile ride in car grille

"Apart from a bit of a dried nose bleed" the rabbit was uninjured, says Mark Pearson

A rabbit that was struck by a car somehow survived a 40-mile ride trapped in the vehicle's grille.

Mark Pearson said he was travelling at about 30mph (48km/h) when he heard a "dreaded thump" near the Bryncynan pub, near Nefyn, Gwynedd, on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old checked his rear-view mirror but when he saw nothing, carried on driving to work in Bangor.

To his shock, hours later a colleague told him he had a rabbit stuck in his bumper.

"[I was] thinking it would be half a rabbit," he said. "I was surprised to find this lucky fella had gone through the grille and got trapped in an enclosed compartment."

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Mr Pearson, who is from Pwllheli, said he went into "Operation Bugs" mode, removing the grille to try to get its head unstuck.

Mark Pearson says he removed the grille on his car to free the rabbit

He said he had to "wrestle" with the rabbit to grab onto it from behind, but was able to free the animal without harming it.

"Apart from a bit of a dried nose bleed, it seemed uninjured," he said.

The rabbit was released with a carrot in a wood near Parc Menai

The rabbit was then released into a "wooded Shangri-la" near Parc Menai, Bangor.

Mr Pearson said he gave it "a bit of carrot as a sorry".

He posted the story on Facebook and some people said he should have brought the rabbit back to where he had hit it.

"I thought that after and went back with a box but it ran off. Oh well, new start for it," he added.

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