San Francisco, California – A yellow-bellied marmot was found far from its natural habitat in the middle of San Francisco. Animal rescuers suspect the critter's adventure was fueled by a fondness for antifreeze, which made the chunky rodent a stowaway.

What is a yellow-bellied marmot doing in the middle of a city? That's the question Urban Wildlife rescuers are currently grappling with, as KQED reports.

San Fran residents spotted the roughly cat‑sized creature in the Mission District.

Normally, yellow‑belly groundhogs live in rocky mountain areas, such as the Sierra or Tahoe.

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The animals are also native to Colorado's Crested Butte.

"Imagine," wildlife expert Lila Travis told KQED.

"These are cat-sized, giant rodents. And they love to eat flowers. So it must have been a very bizarre experience to go out into your backyard and see this unusual rodent."

The most likely explanation for this marmot's strange displacement lies under a car hood. According to experts, marmots have a dangerous snacking habit: they like antifreeze.

The critters have been known to frequent parks and campgrounds' parking lots and crawl under cars. They then gnaw on cables, brake lines, and radiator hoses to get to the liquid yum.

Travis explained that the marmots are attracted to antifreeze because it's a missing electrolyte, but it doesn't do them any good: "It just makes them sick. And they will sometimes be transported to strange places because of the car being driven off."

Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue is looking for people who were recently at Lake Tahoe or Burning Man and then returned to San Francisco, because they're hoping to figure out where this and another rescued marmot came from.

"Marmots are famous for climbing inside car undercarriages, drinking radiator fluid, passing out, and waking up in far away weird places like San Francisco. If you have recently returned from a mountainous area, please post here or call us at 510-421-9897 so we can try to get this marmot home. Thank you!"

Rescuers are doing all they can to return these chunky animals to their natural habitats and are reminding drivers to check for hitchhiking marmots!