We don't want preferential treatment, only the rights we deserve!
Posted on 09/17/2003 9:57:55 PM PDT by martin_fierro
An adventurous adult male chipmunk is being flown from Marin to Utah in a private plane today to rejoin rodents he left behind after he took a road trip to Terra Linda.
The chipmunk, known by staff at WildCare in San Rafael as "chipmunk 1344 from Utah," apparently didn't know he was hitching a ride when he hopped into Dixie Goldsby's Honda Insight while she camped in southeastern Utah a little more than a week ago.
Goldsby didn't discover the stowaway until she returned home, and once she was able to catch him she wanted to do the best she could for the creature.
She considered keeping him as a pet, but the Marin Humane Society told her it is illegal to keep wild animals. So last week she brought him to WildCare, a wildlife rehabilitation center.
Today, the chipmunk is being flown from Gnoss Field in Novato more than 700 miles to the campsite where Goldsby picked him up. Marin pilot Ray Romano offered the use of his time and his Mooneyb aircraft and WildCare board member Jan Wild, who has experience in wildlife releases, will go along.
Goldsby also will join the entourage. The chipmunk - numbered but not given a name, per WildCare policy - will "have a story to tell," Goldsby joked.
"Most people would say if this was anywhere but Marin, people would just shoot him," she said.
The trip will require more than $300 for gas, along with food and overnight lodging for the humans.
WildCare is hoping animal lovers will donate money to help pay for the mission. The nine-year-old WildCare: Terwilliger Nature Education and Wildlife Rehabilitation is a nonprofit organization supported by community donations. It receives no federal or state funds.
Some could interpret the chipmunk's return to Utah as an extreme measure. But Karen Wilson, WildCare executive director, said it's better than the alternative, which would be to euthanize the animal.
"We are trying to make the point of how each animal that comes through our center, we do our best for," Wilson said. "Every animal is important and we try to do everything we can for them."
The organization treats some 4,000 injured and orphaned animals a year and provides nature education for 40,000 Bay Area school children each year.
Goldsby, 53, said the saga began when she was nearing the end of a mountain biking trip and camped out at Canyonlands National Park for the night. She noticed that a couple of chipmunks at her campsite seemed aggressive in seeking out her organic snacks, and she saw one scamper out of her car when she left a door open.
On the trip back to Marin, Goldsby began to suspect that something came along for the ride after spending a night in Nevada and noticing a chocolate bar she had left in the car had been nibbled.
When she finally returned to her Terra Linda home, too tired to unpack the car, she discovered the next morning that a low-carb protein bar had been partially eaten.
On the advice of a pet store operator, Goldsby made a trap out of a shoe box, cutting a small hole in one end and placing peanut butter bait inside.
"I sat in my car really quietly and he climbed down from under the dashboard," Goldsby said. The chipmunk was startled when he saw her and raced back into hiding. She got out of the car but checked the box after a short time and knew she had captured the renegade.
Goldsby had a sense all along that the animal needed to be returned to its home. She called mountain bike stores to see if workers knew anyone who would be traveling to the area. Some poked fun at her and asked if she was into crystals.
"If we couldn't get him back he'd be euthanized, so I did have an investment in getting him back," said Goldsby, a clinical lab scientist.
It was networking that brought the effort together. WildCare has about 350 volunteers and there was an interest in getting the animal to his native habitat because his instinct was to fatten up to get ready to hibernate through the harsh Utah winter, according to Melanie Piazza, director of animal care.
"He's very stressed and trying to find ways to escape," Piazza said.
The chipmunk could not be released in Marin legally or ethically because he is not native and because ecosystem balance is important, Piazza said.
"It would be like taking a human (from the city) and dropping him off in the Adirondacks," Piazza said.
They take better care of their animals there than their kids.
These people are clearly out of their minds.
Sheesh, does everything with these dang pita people have to be one extreme or the other.
You'd think there would be a happy middle ground of letting him go in the nearest forest or even somewhat wild area. Like a chipmunk would know the difference.
I'd feel sorry for the chipmunk, but I'd be hilarious if some bigger wild creature came up and ate him the second they put him down on the ground. Or if he ran across the road and got pegged....only if it was in front of these yahoos though.
We don't want preferential treatment, only the rights we deserve!
You are all missing the key issue: No one asked the chipmunk what s/he wanted!
This is very important! The chipmunk is being treated like an animal, when in fact s/he is a person of chipmunkness! This is a truly disturbing act of speciesism which should not be tolerated in a progressive society.
Moreover, s/he may have been actually trying to get to Marin County! In fact, we cannot be sure that s/he is not actually a former resident of Marin County, legally entitled to live there, and merely trying to return to his/her rightful home by the best means available. And here we are, possibly treating an innocent person of chipmunkness as an *ILLEGAL ALIEN*, when in fact they are actually a Native Marinian, and more entitled to live here than some of the humans who live here - Especially the heartless and cruel ones on this website!!!
I am deeply disheartened by the cavalier manner in which this person of chipmunkness is being treated by our speciesist society. There is clearly only one solution: An animal psychic must be consulted (Surely we can find one of *those* in enlightened Marin County!) at public expense, to explore the intentions of the person of chipmunkness. Should the person of chipmunkness have actually intended to migrate to Marin County, imagine the stress and trauma to which we will be subjecting him/her by heartlessly thwarting all of his/her efforts at the very moment when s/he has finally managed to reach the desired outcome!
To that end, I suggest that all media outlets in Marin County be contacted *immediately* to demand fair treatment for persons of chipmunkness - and above all, to STOP the DEPORTATIONS!!
Should this not produce immediate results, certainly the formation of a Committee of Solidarity in the Struggle for the Self-Determination of Persons of Chipmunkness should be formed, and demonstrations should be held immediately wherever the person of chipmunkness is being confined - before it is too late!!!!!
<|:)~
And all of Chipmunkdom thanks you.
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