Oh, Punxsutawney Phil. You are clinging onto your 15 minutes of fame for the year like your life depends on it.
The Pennsylvania groundhog who ushered in six more weeks of winter when he saw his shadow on Feb. 2 is now a wanted rodent. We always knew he was a troublemaker.
New Hampshire's Merrimack Police Department issued a "warrant" for the little critter's arrest yesterday on Facebook. The police department wrote that it has received several complaints from residents because the groundhog failed to mention that the New England winter would be super harsh this year. The police department wants to take Punxsutawney Phil into custody and warned that he is "armed and dangerous." Here is the complete post below.
Don't be fooled though. That photo is actually of the groundhog from the 1980 film Caddyshack, who was also a prankster. This is the real culprit.
This year's winter has been particularly brutal for parts of New England, so you can understand why the Merrimack Police Department and the people it serves have such a beef with this creature. Some New Englanders were hit with more than two feet of snow on Tuesday with possibly more on its way later this week. Boston has been hit especially hard, receiving more than 72 inches of snow in the past 30 days, breaking a record set in 1978, according to the National Weather Service.
And then there's the fact that groundhogs seem to be even feistier this year than usual. Wisconsin's Jimmy the Groundhog bit Sun Prairie Mayor Jonathan Freund's ear while "whispering" that spring would be arriving early. Perhaps we should expect a "warrant" to go out for Jimmy's assault too.
