http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Have+seen+mysterious+east+Vancouver+marmot/3158586/story.html

Have you seen the mysterious east Vancouver marmot?

By David Carrigg, The Province June 16, 2010 Comments (8)

Mystery surrounds the appearance of a marmot in east Vancouver.

Robert Syms told The Province he was visiting a home on the 3000-block of Clark Drive last Tuesday when he spotted a marmot in the backyard.

"I looked at him, he looked at me and he froze," Syms said.

"I started going holy jeez, I knew it was a marmot."

When Syms moved, the marmot darted under a back shed.

Syms contacted the City of Vancouver the following day to report the find and was told there had only been one other marmot sighting in Vancouver, in Woodland Park two blocks east of Clark Drive on Adanac Street.

Syms then called the B.C. Ministry of Environment and was told marmots are not found in Metro Vancouver.

The population is, however, widely spread across B.C., from the Okanagan Valley to the Cariboo-Chilcotin. The animals are also found in Alberta and the northwestern United States.

Syms let the issue go, until Tuesday when he spoke to a person at the home who said a furnace repairman had visited late last week and taken a photo of a mysterious animal.

Syms tracked the repairman down and got hold of the photo proving his theory.

"Now if it's a Vancouver Island marmot that's a real story," he said.

The Vancouver Island marmot is Canada's most endangered species with a wild population of less than 90.

They have a distinctive white nose, which the marmot in the Vancouver photo does not have.

Syms said the marmot has not been seen since last week but hopes others may come forward with marmot sightings.

If you know of a marmot living in Metro Vancouver, let us know here. (Click on the Photos tab above for other marmots seen recently in the area.)

A marmot photographed in the backyard of an East Vancouver home.
Photograph by: Submitted, PNG