These images show how a goose was taken on a wild, 500-mile ride across China while dangling out of the boot of a car.

The journey was made by a man named Mr Zhang, who was returning home to his home province of Hunan from the city of Xinyang, which is located in Henan Province, some 800 kilometres (497 miles) away.

His father reportedly gave him a goose to take with him, but the man said that he was afraid that the animal would suffocate in the boot of his car, which was already full anyway.

So he placed the animal in a bag which he trapped in the boot door, leaving the animal dangling out of the closed boot.

His car was then filmed travelling down the motorway with the goose dangling out the back of the vehicle.

The goose was reportedly uninjured on arrival and Mr Zhang said that the animal had not even scratched his car.

Eagle-eyed netizens spotted what appears to be some firewood on top of his car in the footage, and theorised that the man was going to cook the goose over a wood-burning stove in an iron pot.

Mr Zhang, however, said that he had not killed the goose yet, and that he had been feeding it water and rice for two days instead. He also said that the wood on top of the car was not firewood but a pepper tree.

He added that he planned to raise the goose for a while, especially in light of its newfound online fame, which means that the bird has avoided the chop, for now.