Punxsutawney Phil, Version 2.0

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-02-02 12:00:00 UTC
Topics:

If PETA had its way, Groundhog Day pilgrims would be greeted by an animatronic Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow (or not), allowing the real Phil to retire to a sanctuary.

Most of the time, the Groundhog Day star lives in a climate-controlled pen in the town library of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with three other groundhogs. Once a year, he's taken across town to a heated burrow beneath a fake tree stump, Gobbler's Knob. Early in the morning of February 2nd, he's pulled out and held up to face his thousands of adoring fans.

Phil's fans think PETA's idea is ridiculous, that the groundhog's lifestyle is anything but cruel. Bill Deeley, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, says a robot groundhog would be blasphemy, that "Phil is probably treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania ... He has everything but a TV in there. What more do you want?"

But the star treatment doesn't seem to be enough for Phil, based on his series of well-publicized escape attempts last year.

After all, a groundhog's happiness isn't measured by whether he gets to chill in front of an air conditioner or watch Animal Planet. Phil's an animal, not a stage prop or a child.

There's no doubt that millions of animals suffer worse fates than the famous groundhog. The Gobbler's Knob charade isn't even close to the abuse faced by animals in factory farms, circuses, and dog fighting rings, to name a few. But the tradition is a perfect example of pure animal exploitation. The Groundhog Club doesn't even bother to pretend that Phil is about conservation or education -- they like to claim that he's over 120 years old, subsisting on a "Groundhog Punch" elixir of life.

The only purpose of the Groundhog Day tradition is tradition (and tourist dollars), which just isn't enough to convince me not to side with PETA on this one.

Photo credit: Barbara L. Hanson

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Alicia Silverstone and Relationships with Cows
NEXT STORY:
Super Bowl Countdown: 5 Actions in 5 Days to Protest Skechers' Dog Racing Ad

COMMENTS (5)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.