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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 work in the field 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.

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.

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

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 subalpine 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 Nainamo. 

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

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.

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

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