I have had a number of animal-vehicle interface issues over the years.
My old man had a toyota Hi-ace vanny trayback thing. Cab over like the van but trayback. The pet cat was underneath on start up one morning and got itself all tangled in the fan belt. The motor wasn't able to start so a cut off belt to rescue the cat was the only casualty.
We used to mow my grandfather place where they stayed. They were in a caravan on an engineering firms property as a sort of caretakers. There was lots of machinery and long grass. One time we had to move the grader to mow around it. We had a hard time starting it this particular time, so gave it full throttle and just kept winding. We thought the battery was dying but then it kicked into life with a roar and thudding noises and foot long chunks of carpet python came flying out the side.
My others have been running over a snake on a motorcycle mid corner. Feels like hitting a waterpipe. A sideswipe of a skippy, again on a motorbike at around 190kph at Tambourine Village, and hit a ridgeback in a volvo in NormanPark one night delivering pizza. A possum committed suicide under the dual rear wheels of my 4 tonne truck.
The one that sticks in my mind most was shooting as a kid, the station had an old HT Belmont ute that was a bit rough. It also had no bonnet so you could get to the problems in the engine quicker. we vwere out spotlighting this particular night when out of the bush on the side comes Skippy the big red kagaroo and lands straight in the engine bay. His face and upper body are pressed against the windscreen, legs on either side of the motor, with the tackle over the motor. We all got a shock at the suddenness of it all but the guys in the cab really **** themselves at the roo looking through the windscreen at them and the whole situation was that comical we couldn't stop laughing to fire of a shot. Skippy once we got him off just hopped off into the bush.
Then there was the time when I was living in Marsden and used to give another fellow a lift home after the night shift at the Meatworks. We were in my XY ute and a massive huntsman spider was in the cab on the hood lining. Peter was petrified of spiders and the thing crawled down the inside of the windscreen in front of me to the dash. I kept driving and Pete starts freaking out . He says if that thing comes over here I'm out. No sooner had he uttered those words than the the spider starts crawling along the dash towards him. We are still doing 60 when he opens the door, so I pull up and he jumps out before we are stopped. I am killing myself laughing and flick it out the door towards him. It landed and turned back towards the car. He says he can still see the shadow cast by the spider underneath the ute from the streetlights.
My flatmate hit a dog on the way back from the shops on his motorbike in a singlet, stubbies and thongs. Ouch. we had great fun poking him while he was healing
