There’s been a marmot sighting in Bernal Heights, and rescuers are scrambling to capture the very cute, very decontextualized creature, which normally lives at altitudes above 5000 feet. The SF Appeal just went live with this breaking story:

Wildlife rescuers are spending this afternoon trying to capture a marmot that was spotted in the backyard of a home in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood.

A resident called WildCare, a wildlife rehabilitation center based in Marin, to report seeing the marmot in the yard this morning.

The call was forwarded to members of Wildlife Emergency Services, based in Moss Landing, who were on scene this afternoon trying to coax the marmot from underneath a shed, said Rebecca Dmytryk, an animal expert with the organization.

Dmytryk said she believes the animal made its way to Bernal Heights by hitching a ride on the undercarriage of a truck or car on the drive from the Sierras or other mountainous location and has likely been in San Francisco for about a week.

UPDATE: As of this evening, KTVU reports that the marmot remains at large and warns that the creature may be a glycerol addict:

At 6:15 p.m., Dmytryk told KTVU that they were unable to round up the marmot from under the “little studio.”

“We will be placing cage trap and monitoring continuously,” wrote Dmytryk in an email to KTVU. “We really want need to know if someone from the area has come back recently from mts like tahoe or yosemite”

Dmytryk said she believed the animal made its way to Bernal Heights by hitching a ride on the undercarriage of a truck or car on the drive from the Sierras or other mountainous location and has likely been in San Francisco for about a week.

She cited a phenomenon in which marmots get into automobile engines and chew through the engine hoses to drink antifreeze.

Hide your antifreeze, Citizens of Bernalwood!  There is a marmot on the prowl.

PHOTO: A marmot, via Wikipedia

Junior Neighbor Malia lives on Agnon in St. Mary’s, and she took note of the helpful Poop Avoidance signs that appeared recently on Cortland Avenue.

Inspired by that example, Junior Neighbor Malia, age 8, decided to create a public service announcement of her very own to promote improved relations between Bernal’s canine community and the humans who share the streets with them.

Isn’t that just the cutest thing?? Love the kids these days.

PHOTO: Malia’s Dad

Sad news from our neighborhood neighbors in Glen Park: A Great-Horned Owl that lived in their park died suddenly in November. An autopsy revealed the beautiful bird died after eating a rodent laced with rat poison:

Examined at WildCare and necropsied (autopsied) at/by the California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System, his body was found to be reasonably nourished (he had part of a rodent in his stomach), but was otherwise internally toxic, diffusely discolored and badly hemorrhaged throughout. He had died of “presumptive AR intoxication,” anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning. That meant that he had eaten poisoned rodents. Great Horned Owls consume 10% of their body weight every day, equal to approximately five medium rodents. A Great Horned Owl family with babies will eat considerably more.

It is very sad to have lost this owl. The people who found Patient #1709 generously paid for the necropsy. They and their neighbors are particularly concerned about a pair of Great Horned Owls who live in the same neighborhood, and have watched them nest there every year for ten years. They are worried that deceased Patient #1709 may have been one of that pair.

Commonly available rodenticides are consumed by rodents, the basic food source for a number of different predators all the way up the food chain. These poisons kill by making whatever animal eats them bleed to death internally – slowly and painfully. While the poisoned animals – targeted or not – are still alive, they can be consumed by other predators. It is a terrifying prospect; to kill many animals while targeting only one.

For the purpose of this release we include not only San Francisco media, but also the specific neighborhoods of Glen Park (where Great Horned Owl Patient #1709 was found), West Portal, Diamond Heights and Noe Valley to help them protect the remaining owls – and any other animals that could eat poisoned rodents there.

It’s strange that Bernal Heights wasn’t included in the alert, because Great Horned Owls have settled on Bernal Hill too, and not all that long ago. It would be swell to have them again. So the lesson stands: Please don’t use rat poison, unless you like killing magnificent owls at the same time.

PHOTO: Great Horned Owl on Bernal Hill, 2007. Photo by Art Siegel

Neighbor Preston photographed a blue jay getting a nicotine fix from his balcony on Ripley:

This bird flew up to an ashtray, beaked up a cigarette, went back to the railing on the balcony and just chilled there for a bit with it in its mouth. holy sh*t.

PHOTO: Neighbor Preston