Joel Young and his family returned to Calgary from a trip to Victoria three weeks ago. On the way back, they stayed overnight in Kamloops and made a stop in Revelstoke.
Somewhere along the way, Young figures a hoary marmot joined them in their car.
“On Saturday, we walked out of our house and there he was on our front lawn and he climbed right back into our car. So we couldn’t take the car anywhere. Ever since then we’ve been trying to figure out what to do with him,” said Young at his home in Parkland Sunday, near Fish Creek Park.
A few weeks ago, Young first started noticing vegetables in his front yard garden being munched on. Then a week ago he saw a large rodent he first thought was a badger. But then he captured photos and video of the creature, which has lead him to believe he has a marmot living under the hood of his car.
“If you look at the native range of a hoary marmot it’s well above tree line in the mountains. How it got here, I’m not totally sure but the fact that it’s so comfortable in our car speaks to that evidence,” Young said.
Neighbours are just as puzzled as Young is. They have video too and they don’t think it’s just a plump gopher.
“I was out with my iPhone and saw the marmot coming out from underneath the car and Joel told me there was a marmot in the car and I said no way. Sure enough, he came on out and came here on the side of the lawn and no fear at all,” Mike Vaters, who lives next door, said.
Young has been putting out lettuce and water for the critter which has been consumed.
“It’s really weird,” Young said. “Hard to say what actually happened but either way, we have to deal with him because now I don’t want to hop in the car and drive and who knows if he’s going to get sucked into the engine.”
Fish and wildlife advised him to get a trap and lure the animal in but before he could do that, on Sunday afternoon the beast made a dash down the street and hopped straight into a neighbour’s vehicle, right into the same place it was hiding before, under the hood of an SUV.
“It’s one of those things you have to see it to believe it,” Young said.
Now no one is sure if the rodent got out the neighbour’s Toyota or if it’s on the road again.