FOXSYLVANIA

– – Groundhog Day is coming soon, and it brings a slew of visitors to an annual festival in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in what may best be described as high silliness.  Each year on February 2nd, otherwise sensible men in high formal dress including top hats rouse Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog from his heated burrow and bring the rascal out to determine whether or not he’ll see his shadow, which in turn supposedly determines whether or not we’ll have an early spring or another six weeks of winter.

Now People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are contending that it’s unfair to keep the famous groundhog in captivity, and subject him annually to the the huge crowds, noise, and bright lights that accompany the appearance of thousands of people on Groundhog Day in the tiny borough 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.  PETA is suggesting that Phil be replaced with an animatronic model groundhog…that’s right, a fake Phil!

I’m usually a friend of PETA, but a robotic groundhog somehow just wouldn’t be the same…Phil is kept in a climate-controlled environment, and annually is inspected by the state Department of Agriculture.  The President of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club says that the animal is “being treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania.”   At least he is less likely to appear dead along the roadside, where I see most of his cousins.– – Besides, who ‘ya wanna listen to?–The genuine article, or some fugitive from Disney?   😉