"Yes, I'll eat your vegetables" Gardener outsmarts brazen thief - now they go viral together

An American hobby gardener loses his patience, installs a camera - and discovers a marmot instead of a pest. What follows is an unusual success story about serenity and living together.

Jeff Permar had been tending his vegetable garden in the US state of Delaware for months. Shortly before the harvest, carrots, melons and tomatoes suddenly disappeared. At first this annoyed him. Then he wanted to know who was helping themselves - and set up a camera.

"Yes, I'm eating your vegetables, so what?"

But it's not a thief who emerges. Instead, the footage shows a sturdy marmot that grabs vegetables with complete abandon, sits down and eats. Again and again, it looks directly into the camera. "It looked as if it wanted to say: Yes, I'll eat your vegetables - and?", Permar says later.

Instead of chasing the animal away, Jeff Permar started filming. He gave the marmot the name "Chunk" and posted the videos on the internet. Within a short time, they were clicked on thousands of times, later millions.

Over time, it didn't stop with one animal. More marmots appeared, later also young animals. Today, a whole family of marmots with names like Nugget, Nibbles and Chip live around the garden.

A small picnic table for Chunk & Co.

Instead of erecting fences or setting traps, Permar decided to take a different approach. He divided up his garden: One part remained for his family, one part for the marmots. He even set up a small table for the animals to eat at.

Marmots are often considered a nuisance or harmful. In this case, they became popular. "It's also their habitat," says the hobby gardener. For him, the story has long been more than just a pastime. It shows that conflicts do not always have to be resolved by repression.