Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 2, 1994 TAG: 9402020021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DEVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They're the Rodney Dangerfield of rodents, detested by gardeners and loathed by farmers.
Hunters blow them away for the fun of it.
"I have a friend who thinks God made them just for target practice," said Becky Mull, an avid hunter from Ripplemead in Giles County.
Dogs chase them into hiding, and other animals simply ignore them.
Even the name - groundhog - brings images of a fat, ravenous pest, wallowing its way through hidden tunnels in search of MORE food.
And with all the lush green vegetables painstakingly planted in neat rows, "[gardeners] are certainly setting the table for them, food-wise," said Jim Parkhurst, wildlife extension specialist at Virginia Tech.
But perhaps there is one groundhog that does gets respect.
His name is Phil, and he lives in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pa.
Each Groundhog Day, weather-watchers await Phil's prediction: six more weeks of winter or an early spring.
As the superstition goes, Punxsutawney Phil will peek out of his winter slumber-spot today to see if the sun is shining. If it is, he'll see his shadow, get scared out of his wits, and return underground for six more weeks of rest and relaxation.
Bad news for those who hate winter.
But if the sun isn't shining, the groundhog will stay outside, indicating to the credulous that spring is in the air.
"I don't know how [Groundhog Day] got started," Parkhurst said. "It must just be something to get people out of the winter doldrums."
What Parkhurst does know, however, is that people hate groundhogs.
"I get a lot of [calls from] frustrated people," he said. "Groundhogs are agile climbers and go right over fences surrounding gardens."
A groundhog by any other name is still the same. Woodchuck, whistlepig - or whatever profanities you yell at him after he eats a row of your favorite snap beans - the groundhog lives up to his scientific name Marmota monax, meaning "digger." Parkhurst said the rodent can move as much as 700 pounds of earth in a day's work, making him a valuable landscape architect.
"Groundhogs are very important in soil conservation, in terms of turning over the soil and bringing in organic matter," he said. "In a sense, they're sort of like big earthworms."
They also riddle fields with tunnels, which can injure livestock or damage farm machinery.
"Most people consider them a pest," Parkhurst said, "but I don't think they give them as much credit as is due."
Parkhurst said groundhogs are "one cog in the wheel," an integral part of the food chain. "Without them," he said, "there'd definitely be a missing link."
William Orange of Prices Fork says it is interesting to watch a groundhog's social behavior. He recalls one groundhog family that would visit another family, often allowing its young to go into the hosts' burrow.
"That didn't last long, though," he said. "The neighbor groundhog would kick them right out."
Orange also said he had a friend who could make pets out of groundhogs, although Parkhurst strongly discourages that.
Despite some of their positive attributes, "groundhogs are wild," Parkhurst said. "Don't even begin to think they would make good pets."
by CNB