the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Punxsutawney PA, PETA is suggesting Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog call it a career. In a press release The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Punxsutawney Groundhog Club president Bill Deeley on Tuesday morning and asked for Punxsutawney Phil to retire “to a reputable sanctuary and start using a cutting-edge animatronic groundhog that could actually predict the weather using artificial intelligence instead,”
Deeley talked to the Punxsutawney Spirit late Tuesday and said he had not read PETA’s letter, but he would “invite them to come to Punxsutawney and see how Phil is treated.”
”As I’ve said in the past, Phil lives better than the average child in Western Pennsylvania,” Deeley said.
The letter, signed by PETA president Ingrid Newkirk, says “an AI Phil would renew interest in Punxsutawney, generating a great deal of buzz.”
“Today’s young people are born into a world of terabytes, and to them, watching a nocturnal rodent being pulled from a fake hole isn’t even worthy of a text message,” the letter goes on to say.
Deeley claimed “PETA wants to piggyback off of his (Phil’s) fame for their own publicity” and added “I think the crowd for this year’s Groundhog Day could be one of the largest ever.”
Groundhog Day festivities are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 2, in Punxsutawney.
I think I’m going to make groundhog stew with carrots celery biscuits mashed potatoes.
Tastes like chicken