An Airdrie family says a marmot hitched a ride on their truck from Kananaskis Country, roamed Cooper’s Crossing for several days and then returned to the same garage.
Chris Ratzlaff said his wife had been hiking at the Ptarmigan Cirque Interpretive Trail the previous Tuesday morning.
She returned home and closed the garage without noticing anything unusual.
Later that evening, while Ratzlaff’s wife was away from the house, one of their adult children went into the garage to retrieve something and quickly returned.
Ratzlaff said the child announced, “There’s a creature in the garage.”
Related Stories:
The animal was described as slightly larger than the family’s dog.
Ratzlaff, who runs the Alberta Aurora Chasers Facebook page, said his children are in their 20s, so he trusted that something unusual was in the garage.
Still, he said the word “creature” gave him little indication of what he was about to find.
He cautiously entered the garage and spotted the animal hiding in a corner.
“I was not anticipating something that large, for sure,” he said.
Family initially suspects porcupine
“My first thought was a porcupine,” Ratzlaff said.
He opened the garage door and waited for the animal to leave rather than attempting to approach it.
Once it moved into the open, the family could see it was not a porcupine.
After doing some research and asking a few people, Ratzlaff identified the animal as a hoary marmot.
He said he had learned more about marmots during the previous week than he had known before the encounter.
After the family sent his wife a photograph, she connected the animal to her Kananaskis hike earlier that day.
Ratzlaff later wrote on Facebook that the marmot had hitched a ride on the family’s truck from Kananaskis.
Sightings spread through Cooper’s Crossing
Ratzlaff posted about the marmot in a Cooper’s Crossing community Facebook group as it was leaving the garage.
Residents began sharing advice, photographs and sightings from around the neighbourhood.
One person shared a photograph taken near a local Save-On-Foods, while another reported seeing the marmot hiding beneath a car.
Ratzlaff contacted an animal organization, but the marmot was already roaming freely.
He said the organization sent someone to search for it the following day, but the animal could not be found.
Ratzlaff wrote on Facebook that the marmot wandered through the neighbourhood for several days as community members continued reporting sightings.
Marmot returns to same garage
Several days later, the marmot returned to the family’s garage.
Ratzlaff said the garage door had been open for a few hours before it was closed.
His wife later discovered the marmot inside again.
The family believed it was the same animal.
Ratzlaff joked that the marmot may have remembered the garage as the place where it could catch a ride home.
The family contacted the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, which later attended and captured the animal.
Video posted by Ratzlaff shows the marmot inside the garage.
Marmot healthy and awaiting return
Ratzlaff said the society gave the marmot a health check and told him she was “healthy and feisty.”
As of Tuesday, Aug. 4, the marmot remained in the society’s care.
She was expected to be returned to Kananaskis Country later in the week.
Alberta’s largest ground squirrel
Parks Canada says hoary marmots live mainly in upper subalpine and alpine ecoregions.
They are the largest ground squirrels and can weigh as much as 15 kilograms.
The animals spend about three months each year eating wildflowers, grasses and seeds before hibernating underground in large groups for the remaining nine months.
Hoary marmots may be seen sunning themselves on rocks or carrying out sentry duties.
When alarmed, they produce a loud whistle to warn nearby marmots before hurrying into a rocky burrow.
Why marmots hitch rides
The Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation says marmots sometimes become accidental stowaways in vehicles.
They may shelter in wheel wells, engine compartments or beneath trailers, attracted by warmth, mineral deposits from road salt or antifreeze, or simply a sheltered crevice.
The institute says similar incidents have been reported in North American mountain parks and can result in long, unintended journeys for the animals.
It advises people travelling to or from alpine areas to inspect beneath and around their vehicles, including wheel wells and engine compartments, before driving away.
Those checks can help prevent injuries to wildlife, vehicle damage and risks to passengers, according to the institute.
Ratzlaff said the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society also asked him to share a warning with people visiting mountain areas.
Drivers should bang on the hood and fenders, give the vehicle a rattle and open the hood to check for unexpected hitchhikers before leaving.
The society advises people to observe wild animals from a safe distance and leave them alone when they are not clearly injured, orphaned or in immediate danger.
Anyone who finds an injured or orphaned wild animal can contact its wildlife hotline at 403-214-1312.
Listen live to Air 106.1 FM for local news, weather, traffic and community updates throughout the day. Stream us anytime through the DiscoverAirdrie app or online.