"Bear Grylls" is the new name of an Australian baby koala that was hit by a car on a dark road this week but, instead of suffering a more tragic fate, the cub got lodged in the car's grill and survived the accident.
The name is a reference to the British survival expert, Bear Grylls, who joked on Twitter:
The accident occurred Tuesday evening when Loren Davis was driving home,
going about 60 miles an hour when she spotted the animal, CNN reported. She tried to avoid hitting it but was unable to change lanes because of three other cars around her, so she hit the brakes. Describing herself as "a bit frazzled and upset," Davis then drove another 10 minutes to her home.
"Once I'd got home, I pulled into the garage and turned on the garage light to see what the damage to my car was and I saw the koala sitting there in the grille," Davis told CNN. "And I ran inside and my fiancé and my stepson were there and I was a bit upset. I thought the koala had died, but my fiancé ran out of the garage yelling, 'He's alive!'"
The couple called a koala rescue organization, but were told it would be an hour before someone could come. In the meantime, Davis said she placed towels around the koala to try and make it more comfortable, CNN said. The animal used the towels to climb out of the grill, and appeared to be uninjured.
"They had closed the [car] garage when they got home, so they had it [contained]," Fauna Rescue of South Australia volunteer and koala hotline operator Don Bigham told reporters.
After further examination, it was determined the koala had just a few abrasions, and Bigham planned to return it to its home in the next day or so.
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