A California woman got a major shock days after visiting Yosemite National Park. A Yosemite critter hopped in her car days earlier and finally made their escape from the park. Her dogs kept nosing around the engine compartment of her car. When she popped the hood, out jumped a big, furry rodent!
Yosemite critter turns out to be marmot!
Phoebe Stokes said her mystery stowaway turned out to be a marmot. The big rodent jumped out of the engine compartment, apparently didn’t like what it saw, and scurried back under the car.
Stokes called wildlife officials. Their summation? Get the car into a confined space, fish out the marmot, and send it back home. So how do you convince a big ground-squirrel relative to leave the comfort of your engine compartment? Call for the professionals!
First responders from the El Dorado County Fire Protection District must have found this a first. Cats up trees. Kids with feet stuck in storm drains. But a marmot under the bonnet? Firefighters spent more than an hour tearing down Stokes’ car far enough to make a quick grab and stuff the marmot into an animal carrier.
Marmot crated, car put back together, everybody’s happy. The marmot’s adventure, which took it three hours away from home, and a couple of days hiding out in a car, ended up right back where it started.
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Imagine the story it will tell the family when he gets home. I think it will start with, you ain’t gonna believe this
Much like a bigfoot, I don’t think they’ll believe him.
“You ain’t gonna believe this. I’ve seen these big machines before, but I’d never investigated one before. So, I got up in one and it was warm, and I must have fallen asleep. Then it started and we went far far away, and I ended up on this other planet. These giants tore me out of the machine and put me in this space capsule and put me in another machine and I ended up back here. I think they were looking for intelligent life. Honest, it wasn’t a dream, it really happened.” “Kids, don’t bother your dad, he’s evidently had a hard day.”
🤣🤣 Good one, Kelly. Have a good night. 😀 -Diane
Shortened story of what was in my head, but I had to get it out so I could sleep tonight. I just had to get that little guy back home first or I would have worried about him all night.
I’m sure he appreciates that very much, Kelly. Maybe he had heard about the cat that traveled 800 miles from Yellowstone back to California. He thought it sounded like fun, but he was lazier than that cat so hitched a ride. (I wonder how the cat made it that far. I guess we’ll never know.) Take care. 😀 –Diane
Cats are so smart that they won’t even talk or deal with us. “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing! “
That’s true, Kelly. And if that cat made it almost all the way home by himself, they must have pretty good built-in radar, also. I’m more of a dog person, myself. And the bigger the better. I took in many stray cats over the years, however. What do they say? Dogs have owners, cats have staff. Yep. Have a good night. 😀 –Diane
We are dog people and current one has us well trained. (Still can’t spell Sheetz Zoo) Gail started grooming ours up on the clothes dryer and now the dog goes there once a day and barks to get groomed. Daughter has cats by default. Love them all.
Ha. I guess I also had cats “by default.” For years. Had several after my very young son first brought home a kitten from a friend, and the rest were strays. One was pregnant so ended up with a few from her. Gave most of them away but kept three. After they all died of old age, I said, “No more cats.” The very next day a stray adopted me by hanging out on my back deck. So much for that plan.🫤 Had her until she died from old age a few years ago. They were all great cats, but I just prefer dogs. Maybe it’s because that’s what I grew up with since my sister was allergic to cats. Have a good night, Kelly. 😀 –Diane
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 I enjoyed your version and Kelly’s of the marmot’s journey. Very entertaining; thank you! Have a great day, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Feel good story. That is what RV was all about.
How did it survive? Moving belts, drive shafts rack and pinion steering. Da*n lucky
Having traveled in southern Colorado a lot, the locals told me marmots are nasty varmints. They get up in the vehicles and eat the insulation off the wiring, causing lots of damage. hopefully he was not there long enough to damage anything.