Researchers stunned by unexpected resurgence of creature from brink of extinction: 'We shouldn't be giving up hope'

The critically endangered Vancouver Island marmot is making quite the recovery, according to The Discourse.

Twenty-two of these marmots were found in the wild in 2003, earning the title of Canada's most endangered native mammal. Now that count is up to 381.

The most recent increase was made possible thanks in part to favorable weather over the last two years, which supported more wild food sources for the animals. With a special focus on ensuring the health of the mothers — and therefore their new litters — the Marmot Recovery Foundation also engaged in supplementary feeding.

"We would put out these leaf biscuits in the earlier part of the year as the marmots were emerging from hibernation," Adam Taylor, executive director of the foundation, told The Discourse. "There were a bunch of reasons for us to do that. In other endangered species, supplemental feeding has been shown to have some benefits."

In order to track the effectiveness of this feeding program, the foundation teamed up with the Wilder Institute to set up remote electronic scales. These can weigh marmots without staff having to handle them manually, which would risk disrupting the animals' natural behavior.

Human intervention clearly has a role to play in rescuing species from the brink of extinction. Other programs have saved rare marsupials in Australia, bald eagles in New Jersey, and a species of fish unique to Tennessee.

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That said, humans are routinely the cause behind wild animal population declines in the first place. Habitat destruction and shifts in the climate accelerated by human activity are some of the major threats.

In the case of the Vancouver Island marmot, clearcutting forests actually led to a temporary boom in marmot population, which in turn caused a massive increase in natural predation. By 2003, the species was nearly extinct.

Vancouver Island conservationists took some time to look back on the decades of work put into protecting the marmots and supporting their recovery.

"It's really important to know that we can recover even the most critically endangered species. It's not easy, it's not quick, but it is possible," Taylor told The Discourse. "And we shouldn't be giving up hope for those species, confining them to extinction just because it's difficult. It's possible to recover them if you're willing to put in the time, effort and work."