Aug. 5 (UPI) — An Alberta man said a marmot he found investigating the inside of his garage had apparently stowed away in his car for a 75-mile trip.
Chris Ratzlaff said his child alerted him to the presence of a large rodent in the family’s Airdrie garage last week.
“It was hiding in a corner, and at first I thought it was maybe a porcupine, so I left the garage door open for it to leave,” Ratzlaff told CTV News. “When it left, we could see that it was a marmot.”
He said the marmot had apparently stowed away on a recent 75-mile drive from Kananaskis.
“We suspect she was somewhere in the engine compartment,” he said. “There’s a skid plate under the engine that would be a great spot for it to ride. I’m imagining the scene from Mission Impossible, where Tom Cruise is holding onto the side of an airplane.”
The marmot was spotted in various spots around the neighborhood in the ensuing days before returning to the garage on Saturday.
Ratzlaff closed the garage door and summoned the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society to collect the marmot.
He filmed video of the animal’s antics inside the garage and posted it to Instagram.
Ratzlaff said the wildlife rescuers confirmed the female marmot is healthy and “feisty.” He said they will return her to the wild in the Kananaskis area this week.
