Chipmunk returns to warm welcome in
Utah Friday, September 19, 2003 - Chipmunk
1344 is back in Utah after hitching a car ride to Marin and a flight on a
private plane back to the national park where he liked to steal campers'
snacks.
The saga began nearly two weeks ago when Terra Linda resident Dixie
Goldsby discovered the scamp had hopped into her car while she was camping
in Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah.
When Goldsby discovered the stowaway, who had munched on a low-carb
protein bar along the way, she took it to WildCare, a wildlife
rehabilitation center in San Rafael.
WildCare workers determined the chipmunk was a healthy male adult that
needed to get back to his home state, where he had been fattening up for
hibernation before he was whisked away in Goldsby's Honda Insight.
The return became possible when Marin pilot Ray Romano offered to fly
the critter home in his Mooney aircraft on Wednesday. WildCare board
member Jan Wild, who has experience in wildlife releases, and Goldsby went
along to see the mission through.
They did not go to the park to see the animal released at the campsite
where Goldsby had spent the night, however, because they could not land at
a nearby airport due to high winds.
The entourage instead flew on to Page, Ariz., to spend the night.
"Yesterday was such a long day," Wild said, last night after returning
to Marin. "We hit turbulence and the wind was horrendous going into
Canyonlands."
When Romano's plane finally landed in Utah yesterday, the media were
waiting.
"There was a herd of people at the airport when we got there," Wild
said.
Already behind schedule and faced with a flight back to Gnoss Field,
Wild, Goldsby and Romano agreed to let a naturalist from the National Park
Service take the rodent back to the campsite.
"We felt really good about this guy doing it, " Wild said.
The adventure for the chipmunk - who was numbered but not given a name,
per WildCare policy - caught the attention of people throughout the United
States and Canada who sent e-mail to the Independent Journal noting their
support or disapproval of the effort.
Some offered to make donations to WildCare, others said they had now
seen everything.
Gas for the plane was expected to cost at least $300.
Back in San Rafael, Karen Wilson, executive director of WildCare said a
few checks had arrived in the morning's mail, and several callers and
e-mailers had asked where to send donations.
The chipmunk, who clocked in a round trip of more than 1,400 miles,
hopefully spent last night back home in his burrow.
TO HELP
Donations may be sent to WildCare: Terwilliger Nature Education and
Wildlife Rehabilitation, 76 Albert Park Lane, San Rafael, CA 94903. The
tax identification number is 51-017233.
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