In what's becoming an annual tradition in its own right, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, more commonly known as PETA, has launched its 2024 campaign opposing the Groundhog Day practice of using a live animal on February 2 to predict an early spring.
This year's suggestion? PETA offered to replace the groundhog-extraction practice in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania with the flip of a large coin, which it would provide in exchange for the retirement of the groundhog himself to a reputable sanctuary where he might live out his days—and winter hibernation—undisturbed by holiday revelers.
In a letter to the president of The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, PETA wrote: "[Punxsutawney Phil] is not a meteorologist, and he deserves better than to be exploited every year for tourism money. The huge coin could easily replace him as the Pennsylvania town's gimmick to draw in tourists."
PETA
While this may seem silly, the animal rights group cited some compelling facts to support its suggestion. For one, it quotes Tim Roche, a meteorologist at Weather Underground, that the average of Phil's prediction accuracy since 1969 is only about 36 percent—while a coin flip is 50-50.
What's more, PETA explained the animals' nature: "Groundhogs are shy, solitary animals who socialize with other groundhogs only to choose a partner. They don't want to ... be exposed to flashing cameras, human handling, or noisy crowds."
But the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club has no intention of altering the festivities that surround Groundhog Day or the tradition that started back in 1886.
"Today, Groundhog Day remains what it was when the tradition first came to our shores and found its way to Punxsutawney. A day to take everything a little less seriously and break up the winter monotony ... at least for a little while!" the club writes on its site.
Of course, this isn't the first time—nor will it be the last—that PETA has taken aim at removing the groundhog from its eponymous holiday. In 2020, the organization suggested the club use an animatronic groundhog equipped with AI, and in 2012, it suggested a robot groundhog that could detect shadows "to get it right every time." In 2022, PETA wanted a persimmon tree—which has seeds that can supposedly predict the harshness of winter—to be used in Phil's stead.
Last year, it even offered a human volunteer—PETA activist Amber Canavan—to "gladly travel to Pennsylvania to take Phil's place, live as he does now in the town library, livestream her monotonous life all year long, and give an equally unscientific weather forecast on February 2, even wearing a groundhog costume if that's what the club wants."
