Grilled pheasant released back into the wild

A pheasant which was struck by a car and trapped inside the front grille for more than five hours has been released back into the wild. Derek Wilkinson, from Edinburgh, found the bird stuck in his new Volkswagen Golf on Thursday.



Mr Wilkinson realised he had accidentally hit a bird while driving in Longniddry in East Lothian. But, he carried on driving because the impact was so hard, he assumed it had died and would be lying on the road. The car's grille had to be removed in order to free the female pheasant, who was taken to the Scottish SPCA's national wildlife rescue centre.

Steph Grant, of the Scottish SPCA, said: "This pheasant is incredibly lucky to be alive and I'm still baffled as to how she got inside the grille. Derek didn't notice the pheasant when he returned home but, later on when he was taking out rubbish, he spotted feathers sticking out of the front of his car. Remarkably, the only injury she had was slight bruising around one of her eyes.



"However, to be safe I took her to our wildlife centre to be monitored in case she had any internal injuries. Thankfully, she was fine and has since been successfully released. We would advise anyone who believes they may have hit a wild animal to pull over if it is safe to do so."