hmmm... well, I've had dogs hit my wheels, I had a furball poodlemutt dart through the gap and get it's (retractible' leash wound up in my crank and pedals, and I've had debris go through my spokes.... just part of life I guess... LOOONG time ago, whilst on a racing team, I had a guy try to put his frame pump into my front wheel (as a way to crash me out of the race). Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for me, I was running Wienmann Concave clincher rims, 36-hole, with 14ga DT spokes and high-flange Campagnolo hubs... it was before aluminium and composite appeared. Normally, I would've been running Wolber 32-hole rims with double-butted spokes, Vittoria sew-ups and low-flange hubs, but it was a rough road, and I was a 'blocker', so I chose the more durable, vs, the higher performance option.
Suffice to say, his little Silca frame pump, against my mass, got bent into a hook around one fork leg, and yanked out of his hand. When we got to the next turn, I pulled off in front of a judge, who immediately DQ'd his team. My team didn't win, but I think I still have the remains of that umbrella in a box somewhere....
It'd really depend on the animal, how 'far' in it got, and what the bike was. Motorcycle wheel... spokes are pretty close, and there's a brake disk usually on one side. An aluminum wheel more likely, but again, brake disk.
My Cannondale Synapse... it's a radially-laced wheel with very few spokes. If a chipmunk or tree squirrel went in, it'd come out in half. If it was a groundhog, I'd be worried... EVEN IF it came out in half. If it was a skunk... well... never mind. NONE of those would be appealing, and I would expect that if they came through in such a way that it stopped the wheel, it would break a spoke or two rather than the fork, but the results of an instantly-stopped front wheel would result in a spill that would be likely to fractur a fork blade, especially up near the crown.
