a friend of mine was in a car in nigeria that hit a vulture. it impacted
on the windscreen and took it out completely, showering the occupants in
blood, feathers and bits of windscreen glass. no-one was hurt (apart
from the vulture) but he told me a lot of people screamed, including
some of the male occupants.

Our taxi almost hit an elephant once in northern Togo.

a ran over a pheasant when i was in scotland the other week. my (meat
eating) wife was appalled that i didn't try to swerve or slam on the
brakes but (vegetarian) me didn't give a hoot. when i was a kid i was in
my dad's car whena cute bunny rabbit hopped into the oad, my mother
shouted out., "don't kill it ," so my dad slammed on the anchors. my
head crashed into the dashboard and i was mildly concussed. since, then
i work on the principle that if an animal gets into the road, i won't
take avoiding action if the animal's small enough that it won't cause
damage to my vehicle. i did see a station wagon hit a cow when i was
working in nigeria (the car was travelling at about 70 mph) and the
occupants were lucky not to be injured . i also saw a bus hit a wayward
horse once. not pretty.

...a great shortcut through some country mini-estates to my father's
house. Just as I'm turning the bend. a large furry looking deer size
creature leaps in front of my car. I slam on the breaks and avoid the
crash. It next dodges through the other two oncoming lanes of traffic
and back into the woods.

I am a bit shaken up but arrive at my Dad's house. He's out near the
driveway watering his beloved roses. I tell him I think I almost hit
something that looked like a cross between a big deer and Sasquatch.

He looks alarmed and goes towards the house. I say, "What's up?" He
says, "Damn, Ray's llama has gotten out of the barn again! I'd better
tell him."

Reminds me of the time I saw a woman hit a huge fluffy grey squirrel,
and I was traveling in the opposite direction. My love of animals and my
EMT training collided! I did a U-turn, stopped with my car diagonally
across the road to prevent anyone else hitting the squirrel, grabbed
some examination gloves, and went to rescue the squirrel, who was not
appreciative! Thankfully, this didn't happen on a big highway! Some
people raking their lawn helped me move the squirrel and the car.

( I never claimed to be especially bright)

LOL. Sqirrel peed on me!

( I still carry a supply of examination gloves, a pen light and kelly
clamps in my glove box, along with 4 by 4 pads, and blood pressure cuff)

Never know

I was driving home on a major arterial in Seattle one dark and stormy
night when a dark object hurdled over the hood of my car. It was a
teenage girl.

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