Cow, moose, deer, coyote…what’s on your bumper?

Brian Mann just blogged about a most unfortunate incident where driver inattention ended in death for a number of hapless cows. (My sympathy goes out to farmer Keith Brior and his herd.)

Here’s a fairly unusual accident out of Newfoundland in which Michelle Higgins hit a moose while commuting to her job as a behavior therapist. As reported by CNN (and re-presented on Today’sTHV):

What’s black and blue and has fur all over? A Canadian motorist who hit a moose, lost all memory of the accident, and drove the car damaged 25 miles to arrive at work on time.

Co-worker Cindy Paulson came running. “And I said ‘Michelle, what happened?’And I said, ‘Nothing.’ And she asked me if I was ok and I said, ‘Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?'”

Blood streaming down her swollen head. She says, “I said ‘Michelle, you were in an accident.’ She said, ‘No I wasn’t.'”

But when she turned and saw her car, the one she had just stepped out of, she said, “I was devastated to see the state my car was in.”

Next stop, the hospital. Michelle Higgins has been recovering ever since from two broken bones in her neck and bruises galore. She calls a hoof print a scuff mark.

There’s a interview video on that link as well, complete with clumps of moose fur as souvenir/evidence. Reportedly Higgins still has no memory of the impact. The less-fortunate moose was killed in the encounter.

My husband was driving across Canada a number of years ago when he hit a deer outside Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He was unhurt but got to spend extra time in the larger capital city where his windshield was repaired. He whiled the time away by exploring Regina, including visits to the Legislative Assembly Building and the RCMP Academy. (Side bar: I actually thought that should be “wiled” the time away, but on checking that have learned that “whiled” is more correct.)

Two autumns ago, the hubby and I were driving from urban Ottawa to our rural village one night when a coyote ran hell-for-leather right under the driver’s front wheel. This time it was my car that got attacked.

We never did find the corpse but we were able to collect the shredded wheel well cover (if that’s what it’s called?) and utilize Radio Bob’s Emergency Duct Tape. After years of just sitting in my glove box, it did a great job affixing the flapping plastic bumper, allowing us to limp back home. Just like the motto on the tape kit said: “Everything’s going to be alright, soon”.  (That encounter left fur as a souvenir too, many strands of it pinched between my tire and the rim – yuck!)

Thank you, duct tape! Thank you Radio Bob! Sorry about that, coyote. Better luck next life, eh?

(Any chance of more Radio Bob emergency duct tape kits in the future? Hint, hint!)

What about you? Got any interesting hits, miraculous near-misses, or exceptional uses of duct tape to recount?

Tags: canada, Michelle Higgins, moose accidents, Newfoundland, Regina