Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center released six orphaned marmots into the wild on Tuesday after rescuing them in June from a Lafayette home.
The Lafayette family that found the marmot pups later learned that a pregnant marmot stowed away in their car engine and hitchhiked down Mount Blue Sky. When Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center workers came to pick up the pups, they were resting in the window well of a woman’s residence in Lafayette, according to Mysti Tatro, Greenwood’s community relations manager.
“This mama marmot had her pups, a whole litter of pups, in this woman’s window well in Lafayette,” said Tatro. “They discovered the pups and then shortly after, they unfortunately found mom on the side of the road; she had been hit by a car. That’s when they were officially orphaned, and Greenwood stepped in to take care of them.”
Tatro said that marmots hitching rides in people’s vehicles is a surprisingly common occurrence…