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OGDEN -- Three baby marmots abandoned by their mother are getting a new chance at life, thanks to a family in Heber and a fleet of volunteers in Ogden.
But that's only part of the story. The volunteer program that was designed to rescue sick and abandoned animals was, itself, nearly abandoned and killed off a couple of years ago. But the public came to the rescue.
The three young marmots are being cared for at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah (WRCNU). Two years ago, the program came close to extinction. It used to be a department of the Ogden Nature Center, which moved to shut it down because it cost too much.
"We've proven that to be wrong because we're on our own, we're in the black," said Buzz Marthaler, chairman of the board for WRCNU. The center split off from the Ogden Nature Center and now operates independently. It's supported almost entirely by donations from the public and relies on a battalion of volunteers. The center has the use of a large building with animal enclosures that was once the Ogden City Animal Shelter.
Volunteers named the baby marmots Stop, Drop and Roll because they're so rambunctious. They're getting plenty of attention, even without their mom.
"They're gonna make it," said Dalyn Erickson, WRCNU executive director. "They're going to be great. They're growing good. They're strong."
The marmots originally lived in an abandoned car in Heber Valley. Heber resident Ebony Bonner said they initially lived with their mother.
"They were in the engine block," Bonner said. "She pulled it all apart and used the wiring and just whatever she could and made a nest right down inside of the engine."
When people approached the car several weeks ago to sell it for scrap, the marmot mom fled and never came back. Bonner's family took the baby marmots into their home.
"They were adorable," Bonner said. "If they weren't completely wild you'd want to keep them as pets."
Eventually, Bonner and her mother took them to the rehab center in Ogden. WRCNU volunteers are currently taking care of 21 mammals and 200 birds. The animals get everything from basic nutrition to medical care.
The center has a current roster of 145 trained volunteers and only one paid staff member. They treated 1,700 animals last year, mainly wildlife that was abandoned or injured.
It's not a question of interfering with nature. "About 90 percent of what we get in is human caused," Marthaler said, "and if it's human caused it's not a natural phenomenon."
Cynthia Dryman of Ogden came into the center with a typical case. In a cardboard box she had a baby starling whose mother was killed by Dryman's pet cat.
"I feel very bad about the cat," Dryman said. "I can't seem to keep him in."
WRCNU volunteers say cats are the No. 1 cause of the cases they see. "They need to be kept inside," Marthaler said. "I'm a cat owner, and my cat stays inside."
Most animals treated at the center are eventually released back into the wild. Stop, Drop and Roll probably won't be, because they're now too accustomed to humans.
"They'll associate with humans for the rest of their lives," Erickson said, "which can make them dangerous to humans as well as humans dangerous to them." Stop, Drop and Roll will probably wind up in a zoo, or an educational program.
The center welcomes donations and any wildlife that needs help, but animal lovers have to bring in the critters themselves. With only one person on the payroll, the center does not make house calls.
Email: hollenhorst@ksl.com
