For this family, Groundhog Day happens in August

COEUR d'ALENE - Tire-Rama employees craned their necks to look under the Kia Sedona as the animal control officer shined a flashlight underneath.

"It should be scorching hot under there," mused tire tech Luis Tovar as others crowded around with cameras. "I don't know how it has managed to stay in there."

Laurie Deus, Coeur d'Alene animal control officer, shook her head as an Idaho Fish and Game employee approached with a grabbing pole.

"I don't know," Deus said. "But it's been in there for 20 hours."

The piercing chirping under the chassis grew louder.

Deus pointed to a shadowy nook.

"See it?" she asked.

Beady black eyes and a spiky face, a tad disgruntled, stared back.

Not the usual vacation spot for a marmot.

But nearly a day after taking cover under a Coeur d'Alene family's minivan and besting an animal control officer at tug of war, the tenacious groundhog had refused to budge.

So on Tuesday morning, more help was on the way.

Suggesting the family take the car to a service shop and lift it on a bay for a better advantage, a Fish and Game employee met the car owners and a Coeur d'Alene animal control officer to dislodge the critter.

Considering how many hours of her life had been dedicated to this pursuit, Merrit Mitchell watched with a smile as her two young children crowded her legs.

It had been a strange call she made to her husband, Pat, the afternoon before, she said.

"You're not going to believe this," she told him.

When Merrit and her three kids drove out of the gas station at Safeway on Government Way on Monday, her 16-year-old daughter pointed and exclaimed, "Mom, look at that furry thing!"

Merrit glanced just in time to see a furry ball come barreling out from under the car in front of her, lunging for their minivan.

"I saw it galloping toward me like a race horse toward the finish line," she remembered, mimicking the paw movements. "He moved fast."

Nearby observers confirmed it was now under her car.

She parked and waited for Deus, who discovered the animal squeezed in on top of the resonator.

When Deus reached for it with an animal control pole, the creature seized the device and wrestled her for it.

"She tried really hard, but it became frightened and really aggressive," Merrit said.

Deus suggested driving somewhere peaceful, and maybe it would come out on its own.

So Merrit parked at a field by City Hall, and took the kids downtown for the afternoon to give the animal some alone time.

Four hours after eating, shopping and sampling chocolate, they returned home.

Merrit was convinced it was gone, until her husband heard something around 11 p.m.

"He said, 'Are you sure its gone? Because I hear this scratching noise,'" she said, and a good look confirmed the marmot was still on board. "It just liked our car, I guess."

Deus decided to bring in Fish and Game the next time around. On Tuesday, with the van perched on a bay at Tire-Rama, Fish and Game employee Pete Rust approached with an animal control pole.

"Back up," he warned. "We don't know where this could go."

But the pole darted out, snatched the critter and placed it promptly in an animal kennel.

Pat and the kids peered inside.

"He's big!" exclaimed Alex, 6.

"He stinks," said Bella, also 6.

Deus said she would release it at a nearby river.

Another groundhog had been discovered the day before at Sunset Animal Hospital, she said.

She couldn't say whether the marmot was a normal size.

"Animal control usually deals with dogs," she said.

Rust, a fishery research biologist, said he's no marmot expert but he believes they are common in Idaho.

"What happened is pretty unusual," he said, though he couldn't guess why the groundhog ended up in traffic. "It was probably trying to get warmth and shelter."

Merrit was just glad no groundhogs were injured in the adventure.

"It wasn't what I'd planned for the day, but I'm glad it worked out," she said.