Another Groundhog Day has come and gone, with Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow and announcing six more weeks of winter. Ahead of this year’s ceremony, however, PETA announced that it is pushing for the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club to do away with the tradition involving a live groundhog. In its place, the organization has pitched a live hologram show that would see an animated Punxsutawney Phil make his grand prediction.
A letter from PETA to President of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Tom Dunkel reads,
“Here we are again! It’s People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 10.4 million members and supporters globally, including many thousands in Pennsylvania—with a new offer to give Groundhog Day a much-needed glow-up: Retire Phil to a reputable sanctuary with his family, and we’ll provide a giant, state-of-the-art, 3-D projection hologram of a groundhog along with a vocal prognostication to light up the Gobbler’s Knob stage. This update would be sure to captivate crowds, and let’s face it: Phil looks better standing tall and composed in light beams than squirming in a handler’s hands in captivity.”
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This isn’t the first attempt from the organization to push for a change in the Groundhog Day ceremony. Previous calls for Punxsutawney Phil’s retiring included a “weather reveal cake” and predicting the weather with persimmon seeds, both ideas that were rejected from the club.
“Pixelated popstars are headlining concerts and long departed celebrities are attending conventions, so why not put that technology to good use: on a hologram that lets the real Phil hibernate in peace,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk.
No word as of yet whether PETA’s hologram pitch will be considered, but stranger things have happened. Like, say, a groundhog predicting the weather.
