Two marmots have made unexpected appearances in heavily populated Bay Area communities, leaving wildlife experts puzzled about how the mountain animals ended up so far from their natural habitat.
The stocky, furry herbivores typically live in underground burrows across the Sierra Nevada, rather than in urban neighborhoods.
The latest rescue came Sept. 10 in Antioch. Officials suspect the marmot may have unknowingly traveled beneath a vehicle making the trip from the mountains into the city.
Just days earlier, on Sept. 4, another marmot was found in San Francisco’s Mission District. That animal is currently recuperating at a wildlife rescue facility.
“Unbelievably, a second yellow-bellied marmot was spotted (loitering) at a job site in Antioch,” Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue said in a social media post.
Rescuers said the Antioch marmot appears to be in good condition.
“The marmot has been safely captured and is now recovering at our wildlife center as we try to discover its origin story,” the organization said.
The rescue center is now working to determine where both animals came from and, if possible, return them to their native habitats.
A spokesperson told KRON4 that the two cases rank among the “stranger cases” the rescue team has encountered.
Marmots are known to crawl into the undersides of parked vehicles, where they can sometimes drink radiator fluid and become unconscious. If the car then travels a significant distance, the animals may wake up in an unfamiliar location, far from home.
Antioch Animal Services believes the newest marmot may have arrived from a mountainous area near Lake Tahoe after the Labor Day weekend.
“If you happen to have returned to the Delta Fair Blvd area of Antioch near the Pittsburg end in the last few days please reach out to us with your weekend location so we can potentially have this marmot return to its home,” Antioch Animals Services wrote on Facebook.
Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue also said that the animals might have hid away in cars that were getting back from the Burning Man festival in Nevada. The festival attracted thousands, including many attendees from the Bay Area.
The rescue urged people who were in the Lake Tahoe area around Sept. 4 , especially those returning from Burning Man, to inspect their vehicles for any wildlife that may have hitched a ride.
