By STEVE GILLILAND
Explore Kansas Outdoors
If my 73 years on this rock has taught me anything, it’s just when you think you have seen and heard it all, you haven’t!
Our friends at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are at it again, and frankly, we should have seen this one coming. Their latest quest involves trying to free the self-avowed weather prognosticator and main character of Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil.
Here are excerpts of a letter from PETA to Phil’s handlers at the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club trying to barter Phil's release:
“Groundhogs are shy prey animals who, when allowed, actively avoid humans, yet year after year, Phil is transported to Gobbler’s Knob, whisked on stage, and subjected to a noisy announcer, screaming crowds, and flashing lights against all his natural instincts. If approached in his natural habitat, he would run away in fear, not volunteer to live in captivity, unable to do anything that’s natural and important to him like hibernate or burrow – just to be a town’s once-a-year fake meteorologist. Our letter suggests the groundhog club respect Phil and set a wonderful example for how everyone can move beyond “Groundhog Day” by replacing him with a delicious vegan “Weather Reveal” cake that revelers can enjoy as an alternative to exploiting wild animals. The time is long overdue.”
The letter also urged Groundhog Day officials to “sprinkle some happiness” into Phil’s life by letting him retire.
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania was settled and named by the Delaware Indians as a campsite halfway between the Allegheny and Susquehanna Rivers. When German settlers arrived in the 1700s, they brought with them a tradition known as “Candlemas Day,” celebrated in Germany on Feb. 2, which happens to be the mid-point between winter solstice and spring equinox, (winter and spring.) Tradition held that if Feb. 2 were sunny, the last half of winter would be nasty and cold, and vice-versa if Feb. 2 was cloudy.
In Germany, for whatever reason, hedgehogs were observed to see if a shadow was cast. In Pennsylvania, given the absence of hedgehogs, groundhogs were selected to assume that role.
An old German saying read: "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl until May, for as the snow blows on Candlemas Day, so far will the sun shine until May."
So, in other words, if Phil sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter will ensue.
Pennsylvania’s first official celebration of Groundhog Day was in 1886, when the legendary groundhog was named Punxsutawney Phil, and the first trip to Phil’s mythical home on Gobbler’s Knob, was made the following year.
Now, everything I can find tells me that Phil’s “subjection to a noisy announcer, screaming crowds and flashing lights” lasts less than one-half day each year, and for the other 364 days, 23 ½ hours, he enjoys a climate-controlled room at the Punxsutawney Library, complete with all the dog food and ice cream he wants.
Now certainly if we trust Phil to predict the arrival of spring, he must be able to communicate, so let’s ask him what he thinks of PETA’s proposal. I imagine the conversation going something like this:
Me: "So, Phil, have you heard that PETA wants to 'free' you by retiring you to a preserve somewhere so you can live out the rest of your life like a wild groundhog?"
Phil: "Say what now??? I really hope you’re joking!" (as he takes another bite of ice cream)
Now, I know common sense is a flower that does not grow in everyone’s garden, but just like I know David Copperfield cannot really make the Empire State Building disappear, I also know Phil cannot really predict the arrival time of spring, probably having no clue whether he sees his shadow or not, but it’s fun to think so.
So why mess with it?
I have no doubt there are animals in this country, both pets and domestic livestock, that are truly abused, and where PETA could do some real good.
So, to the well-intentioned folks at PETA, please concentrate your efforts on causes worthy of your time; people will take you a little more seriously.
Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].