Arizona man driving to work finds bobcat under his vehicle’s hood; animal returned to the wild

GILA BEND, Ariz. (AP) - Horsepower is one thing, but an Arizona man driving to work wound up with a bobcat underneath his car’s hood.

Arizona Game and Fish Department officials reported Friday that the unidentified driver unknowingly struck a bobcat on the way to work recently in Gila Bend, some 73 miles (117 kilometers) southwest of Phoenix.

“He didn’t know he hit the bobcat until he parked his car and heard some noise under the hood,” Game and Fish officials said. “He looked under the hood and saw two eyeballs looking at him.”

Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies from District 2 — which covers Gila Bend, Tonopah, the southwest areas of the Phoenix metropolitan area and other communities — arrived to help as did Game and Fish workers.

They were able to sedate the bobcat and remove it from the vehicle's engine compartment behind the grille.

The bobcat wasn’t injured and was released back into the wild, according to wildlife officials.

An online post from the sheriff's department said "District 2 is still the wild, wild west!”