Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Project

HISTORY

In 1998 the B.C. Ministry of Environment enlisted a group of scientists and wildlife managers from government, industry, and non-governmental organizations to develop and implement a Recovery Plan for the rare Vancouver Island Marmot. At that time, there were only 20 marmots on Vancouver Island. The first facility to take in marmots for a captive breeding program was the Toronto Zoo followed closely by the Calgary Zoo. In 2000, Mountain View Conservation & Breeding Centre joined the recovery program and the Tony Barrett Marmot Recovery Center located on Mt. Washington was completed in 2002. The Recovery Team works in partnership with scientists, researchers, and technicians from across the country and around the world to understand the marmot population and build animal management programs that support the recovery objectives. At Mountain View, marmots live in spacious pens designed to promote natural behavior such as breeding, burrowing, hibernating, and basking in the sun. Marmots spend the summer fattening up for the winter months when they hibernate. In the wild they hibernate for eight months. In captivity, they typically hibernate for a shorter period of five to six months.

The Recovery Team meets twice a year to review the recovery strategy and action plans for the coming year. The 15 to 20 participants attending include private land owners, representatives from the forest industry, the BC government, the Marmot Recovery Foundation, as well as representatives from the various breeding centres. The Team reviews the various field projects including updates on the wild population, the season’s releases, survival rates, and mating. In addition, at an annual captive management meeting, the various facilities update the status of the captive population in terms of the number of litters and pups born in the past year, the mating pairs and the scheduling of animals for relocation to Mount Washington in preparation for release the following spring.

RECOVERY PROGRAM

In our recovery program, we are working with governments, researchers and conservationists along with the Calgary Zoo, Toronto Zoo and the marmot facility on Mount Washington to breed marmots and re-introduce them into their native habitat on Vancouver Island.

We believe that one of the keys to Mountain View’s success with breeding was building an outdoor marmot enclosure that allowed a breeding pair to burrow and nest underground. Our marmot facility is located in a secluded wooded area of the Centre, away from other animals and visitors, to ensure the health and privacy of the animals.

Mountain View’s breeding facility has been involved in research studies in the areas of marmot reproduction and self-preservation. Our facility is known in the marmot breeding business as the ‘Marmot Hilton’ - a testament to the success in breeding these remarkable little rodents.

PREDATION

One of the key threats to the wild population is predation. The marmots are hunted by golden eagles, cougars and wolves. One particular female golden eagle near a marmot colony was captured and relocated last spring. By the end of the season, the team reported less eagle predation over the summer. Another small success for the Recovery Team.

RELEASE LOCATIONS

Map provided by: Andrew Bryant, research scientist on the Marmot Recovery Team. Click here for larger map image.

Mount Washington has the largest housing facility with 89 marmots at this time. Because this location is at a higher elevation more indicative of the sub-alpine meadows that the marmots call home, animals are housed here so they can acclimatize prior to release. Typically marmots scheduled for release spend at least 10 months at this location before release. In 2007, 2 new sites further north on Vancouver Island were established for release, Strathcona Provincial Park and Mount Cain. These sites had no marmots left, so introduction here is a great step forward. The other colonies are located mainly in the south, just west of Nanaimo.

Photo: Checking their health, taking blood, inserting micro chips; are all done under anesthetic to keep our furry friends calm.

MOUNTAIN VIEW MARMOT FIRSTS

The first male/female pair to breed in the wild came from Mountain View

The first male to breed with a wild female came from Mountain View.

The first female to breed with a wild male came from Mountain View.

To learn more about Vancouver Island Marmots click here to link to the animal FACT PAGE.

PROGRAM UPDATE 2007

The Marmot Recovery Program continues to succeed. There are currently about 90 marmots in the wild with 37 released this year. As well, there are 162 in captivity. 2007 saw 59 new pups born in the breeding facilities, a record high. At Mountain View we are very pleased with the program we are running. Nineteen adults awoke from hibernation in late March and all were in good health. Three breeding pairs produced eleven marmot pups in May, almost twice as many as in 2006. This fall we sent six pups to the Mount Washington facility on Vancouver Island in preparation for their final release to the wild in the summer of 2008.

The remaining five pups will stay at Mountain View to be paired for breeding in the coming years. Five new adults, 3 females and 2 males arrived from Mount Washington and Toronto, to be paired with our single adult marmots. "This will give us a record of eleven breeding pairs for next spring," said Marguerite Sans, Marmot Keeper, "I'm very excited that our program continues to grow and succeed."

The new marmots must be in quarantine for 30 days after arrival. Introduction to their new mates is not done late in the fall as it may delay the onset of hibernation. Two pairs have already been introduced this fall. The other 3 pairs will awaken to their new mates in the spring. "We let the marmots go into hibernation and then we move the mate into the nest box with its new partner while they are in deep hibernation." Marguerite Sans explains.

PROGRAM UPDATE 2008

In mid July 2008, I sat watching two marmot pups boxing as their parents looked on, keeping watchful eyes. However, I was not doing my daily keeper duty at Mountain View, but sitting on a mountain peak in ideal marmot habitat.

During a trip to Mount Washington for an annual Captive Management Meeting, the Vancouver Island Marmot Field crew wanted to give us a treat. So we, the captive breeding members, had a rare opportunity to observe Vancouver Island Marmots in the wild.

As we hiked up through the forest and broke into the meadow clearing, we heard a unique marmot vocalization. A nervous mother was calling to her pups and trying to gather her litter together. Within a minute’s hike we had a breathtaking view of the meadow, Haley Lake and the surrounding mountain sites, on which a handful of marmots are living. Gradually, as we hiked above the meadow, we started spotting individual marmots in the distance. Although we work with marmots in captivity every day, some of us had never seen a marmot in the wild and these first few sightings were well worth the hike up.

As we sat down for lunch, a couple of marmots lay basking in the sun on the rocky outcrop below. Though we were quite far from their lookout stations, they still kept a vigilant eye on us. We each tried to spot a marmot before anyone else, but the field crew members have well-trained eyes and would always be the first to point one out. Once in awhile, a pup would poke its head up from a burrow and cautiously climb the boulder. Eventually, they grew calmer in our presence and two pups started boxing and wrestling, a very typical marmot behaviour.

Suddenly we spotted an agile marmot running straight down a vertical outcrop to our right. "That’s Susan," explained Jerry, one of the field marmot biologists, as he used radio-telemetry to id the marmot. She had been checking out the other side of the mountain and was quickly returning to her pups.

Susan’s litter was one of three born at the site this season. Most importantly, these pups are second generation from captive-bred marmots, which is an exciting testament to the success of the captive breeding and reintroduction program. Haida (born here at Mountain View) and Onslo, both born in captivity were released to Mount Haley as a pair in 2004. They have produced several offspring in the wild since then but this is their first year as grand-parents.

Finally and reluctantly, we gathered ourselves up and took one last glance at the basking marmots below, before hiking back out of the ecological reserve. The experience, however brief, was incredibly fulfilling. These were marmots that we had cared for day-in and day-out, constantly worrying over their health and well-being. Now they are proving to us that not only can they survive in the wild, they can hibernate, reproduce and raise pups that will also become successful parents. Although there is still much more work to be done to bring back an entire species from near extinction, our motivation has never been greater, because we know the Vancouver Island Marmot has a chance.

Marguerite, Head Marmot Keeper

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