PETA Goes After Punxsutawney Phil
Posted by DDOCS in Stupidity, tags: Animals, holidays, Stupidity
“Groundhog Day” is one of my favorite movies. Besides showcasing the brilliant Bill Murray and a great cast of supporting actors (Stephen Tobolowsky, anyone?), it also highlights an animal who doesn’t get much air time outside of February 2nd. Where else but America would we have a famous groundhog like Punxsutawney Phil, the preeminent rodent who predicts the weather each year?
If you haven’t seen the movie to explain it, here’s who we’re talking about:
Every Feb. 2, Phil is the honored guest at an early-morning party at Gobbler’s Knob, a wooded area outside of town where thousands of tourists watch Phil issue his annual weather forecast. As per legend, if Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; if he does not, there will be an early spring.
Well, PETA wants Phil replaced with an animatronic groundhog. A RoboHog, if you will.
The letter calls it “cruel” to keep groundhogs on display year-round, adding that groundhogs are shy creatures that become stressed when handled by humans or facing large crowds.
Besides being not very practical, the idea is ridiculous. Phil probably has it better than you and I do. He works ONE day a year, and the rest of the time he lazes about getting fat and watching TV (probably…that’s what I’d be doing, anyway). He lives in a pen with three other groundhogs that is heated in the winter and air-conditioned in the summer.
Does PETA think this publicity really makes anyone take them more seriously? For me, it just confirms my suspicions that they are publicity-hound crackpots.
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