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Well, at least something went right in 2020: The Great Marmot Crisis is over.

Victoria animal control officers have captured a marmot that is believed to be the one spotted downtown this week.

The runaway rodent was cornered Thursday under a shipping container on the grounds of Gorge Road Hospital.

It’s assumed that the marmot is the same one seen ducking into the engine compartment of a truck at a downtown construction site on Sunday.

After the truck trundled off to parts unknown, a search for the animal ensued, as photos indicated it belonged to a species normally found only on the mainland. Its presence alarmed authorities who worried that the visitor would spread parasites and disease to our native Vancouver Island marmot, which is among the world’s most-endangered animals.

Animal control officers descended on Gorge Road Hospital after the marmot was seen sunning itself on the lawn. After they blocked off holes under one end of the shipping container, the marmot ran out an opening at the other, where it was scooped up in a fish net.

“We’re guessing it was the same marmot that was spotted Sunday in the 600 block of Yates Street,” said Ian Fraser, the senior animal control officer with Victoria Animal Control Services.

When mainland marmots show up on the Island, it’s often at constructions sites. Fraser said Environment Ministry staff theorize that the animals hitch a ride across the strait on transport trucks carrying pipes, whose cave-like quality attracts them.

The marmot was taken to the North Island Wildlife Rescue Centre in Errington. It will eventually be released near Kamloops, perhaps with a yet-to-be-caught marmot currently on the loose in the Duncan area.

— Times Colonist