Groundhog Club calls PETA’s idea to replace Phil with animatronic groundhog outrageous

Officials close to Punxsutawney Phil have responded to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is calling for the groundhog to be retired and replaced with an animatronic groundhog.

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club called the idea of replacing Phil with a robot outrageous.

“PETA comes every … usually gets ahold of us every year and just want to piggyback on top of us,” Bill Deeley, president of The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, said. “Come Tuesday, they want nothing to do with us because we’re old news. You know, they want everything up until Groundhog Day. They want to be part of us.”

Deeley said Phil is in no way being mistreated. He said if PETA has concerns, it should go see how the groundhog lives.

“How can you criticize us for things we do when you haven't come? You've never come and observed what we do do. Come and see what we do, and if we do disapprove of the things that you think we should, then we'll try to correct it,” Deeley said.

PETA wants Phil to go to a reputable sanctuary and be replaced with an animatronic groundhog that would use artificial intelligence to predict the weather.

“Gentle, vulnerable groundhogs are not barometers,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said. “PETA is offering the club a win-win situation: Breathe life into a tired tradition and finally do right by a long-suffering animal.”

The following is the full letter that Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, sent to Bill Deeley, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club:

"Times change. Traditions evolve. It’s long overdue for Phil to be retired.

As a prey species, groundhogs actively avoid humans. Being in close proximity to the public causes these animals great stress. When Phil is dragged out of his hole and held up to flashing lights and crowds, he has no idea what's happening. Being relegated to a library "habitat" for the other days of the year doesn't allow him or the other groundhog there to dig, burrow, or forage. It's no kind of life for these animals.

Using technologically advanced electromechanical devices such as animatronics instead of live animals is more popular than ever. We even have the technology to create an animatronic groundhog with artificial intelligence (AI) that could actually predict the weather. An AI Phil would renew interest in Punxsutawney, generating a great deal of buzz, much like Sony's robot dog "aibo," which walks, plays, misbehaves, and responds to commands. By creating an AI Phil, you could keep Punxsutawney at the center of Groundhog Day but in a much more progressive way. Talk about taking your town's annual tradition in a fresh and innovative direction!

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. This is a generation whose members book rides on their smart phones and will never walk into a bank to deposit a check. Ignoring the nation's fast-changing demographics might well prove the end of Groundhog Day.

We’d be happy to make recommendations for a sanctuary that would welcome Phil and the other Punxsutawney groundhog. Instead of working at cross-purposes, let’s collaborate to create a sunny future. I look forward to hearing from you."

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