![](\"https:\/\/infotel.ca\/news\/medialibrary\/image\/orig-mediaitemid106305-5412.jpg\" "\\"FILE")
<\/a><\/p>\nFILE PHOTO – A marmot has its face stuffed full in Kamloops. <\/p>\n
Image Credit: SUBMITTED \/ Lyn MacDonald <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n July 24, 2025 – 7:00 AM
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n\tIt took almost 24 hours for a Kamloops resident and busy mother to get a marmot out of her car engine a few days ago.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe marmot scurried under the hoods of a few cars in the neighbourhood before it planted itself firmly in Jennilee Fraser\u2019s engine and no amount of banging on the car would scare it away.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt hunkered down and decided not to leave,\u201d she said. \u201cWe tried getting our dog out there to scare it but it didn\u2019t help.”
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tEven their cats couldn’t convince the marmot to leave.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tNo one could get a hand up high enough to reach the top of the engine and pull the marmot out.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe couldn\u2019t even see it but knew it was there because every time we\u2019d bang around in there it would start chirping,\u201d Fraser said.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tShe checked the internet and found one suggestion was to leave the hood open, walk away for awhile and the marmot would leave on its own.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tShe drove the car to a nearby walking trail, parked and opened up the hood. There she stayed for more than an hour playing loud music, honking the horn, and turning the engine on and off trying to scare the critter out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI said I need help. I have this marmot stuck in my engine, so she came up with my stepdad. We\u2019d jacked up the car to try to get at it from the underside and I sprayed peppermint essential oils around the engine to try and stink it out.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFraser closed everything up and left for three hours, returning after supper and the marmot was still there. She took the car back home and went to Home Depot to buy a trap she baited with food to put next to the car.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe next morning, the marmot was still there.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI kicked my wheel housing and heard it chirp and then I was super frustrated,\u201d Fraser said. \u201cWe called animal control who said they can\u2019t help us and pest control who said they don\u2019t deal with marmots. We called a couple of mechanics and even the SPCA who was so busy they couldn\u2019t even take my call.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t want it to die but I didn\u2019t want it to damage my engine and I wanted my car back.”\u00a0
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFraser\u2019s husband Nigel Beardwood took the car to a car wash and hit the engine with a pressure washer. After that no more chirping sounds could be heard, so the couple followed up at a Mr. Lube on the North Shore to see if the critter was finally gone.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe real hero of this story is Mr. Lube,\u201d Beardwood said. \u201cThey said no problem and removed the undercarriage to make sure it was gone. They didn\u2019t charge us or question us and said it\u2019s just part of the service. We got lucky it didn\u2019t chew through any wires.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
News from \u00a9 iNFOnews, 2025<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FILE PHOTO – A marmot has its face stuffed full in Kamloops. Image Credit: SUBMITTED \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-21775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tIn spring and summer marmots have a feeding frenzy to fatten up for the coming winter and need denning locations close to food sources, according to Critter Control.<\/a> Yards and gardens provide food for them while many parts of the car provide shelter including the engine bay and wheel wells. The marmots chew on wires, hoses and air conditioning.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPete Wise runs Wise Wildlife Control Services in Coldstream and gets called out to remove marmots from car engines roughly half a dozen times every spring and summer.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt is very common and people get carried away doing different things trying to get them out of there but there is a simple solution,\u201d he said. \u201cPark the car somewhere safe and open the hood. If you don\u2019t open it, he\u2019ll go on top of the motor, start pulling the headliner out of the hood, make a nest and start chewing on the wires.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cJust open that hood and leave it. Don\u2019t look at, don\u2019t peek at it, keep your pets in, leave it alone and it\u2019ll move on. It takes time and patience.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFraser said her family now has a funny story to tell and suggests anyone in a similar predicament go to an oil change business for help.\u00a0
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tTo contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie<\/a>\u00a0or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor<\/a>. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom<\/a>\u00a0and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWe welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won’t censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here<\/a>.
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n