A "well-muscled and chunky" Central Otago cat has remarkably survived being hit by a car travelling at up to 100km/h and spending the next 35km wedged tightly in the grille.
It took about 30 minutes to cut the Burmese - named Bekkum - free from the car which hit him on State Highway 8 near Roxburgh on Friday night, the Otago Daily Times reports.
"Some Dunedin people were driving to Wanaka and they thought they'd hit a rabbit, on the highway, this [the Alexandra] side of Roxburgh, in the 100kmh zone," said SPCA inspector Helen Saunders.
"They had no idea it was a cat until they stopped to use the toilet at Alexandra, and heard what sounded like a cat meowing, in the front of their car."
The impact buckled the car's number plate and broke the front spoiler. Bekkum had been "squashed in really tight" behind the front grille, she said.
Despite that the cat was "remarkably unfazed" and only suffered a minor scrape and bruising.
Fortunately, Bekkum was "well-covered - well-muscled and chunky" which helped him survive the impact, she said.
Bekkum's owners, Gaynor and Michael Crabbe, of Coal Creek, near Roxburgh, had not been worried by his disappearance, as it was common for him to vanish for a day or two.
The seven-year-old cat was fond of travelling in cars and on trailers, and occasionally even on top of cars. He had hitched a ride on several short journeys around Roxburgh before Friday's high-speed trip.
"It could've been a lot worse, so we just appreciate what everyone did, and we're happy to get him back in one piece."
NZN