Death casts a shadow over Wiarton
For those who knew him, Wiarton Willie will be remembered for the grace in which he held his species’ highest office. He managed to conquer the greatest hurdle facing a groundhog in the public eye: He did not hide from his admirers.
If the groundhog’s primary duty is to predict the coming of spring, surely the second would be to allow himself to be seen, to accept his role as a tourist attraction for the municipality that feeds him. But most groundhogs are, by nature, skittish. Willie, however, learned to relish the attention — all owing pedestrians and dogs on leashes to glimpse him, lying in the sun, at his penned- i n estate on the waterfront in Wiarton, Ont.
“If he could speak, he’d be polite,” his caretaker, Gord Glover, said on Wednesday.
The groundhog was found dead on Saturday. He was 13.
Willie’s passing was announced Wednesday much in the same way a palace announces the death of a monarch. Yes, Willie was dead, but Willie was still alive. A two- year- old groundhog, Wee Willie, is next in the line of succession.
The late Willie himself was once a Wee Willie, after he was caught as a baby in nearby Markdale, Ont., in 2004. He was shy then, darting deep into his pen at any sign of a dog or person, Glover said. He got better, becoming almost as curious of people as they were anxious to see him.
In his last ceremony, this year, Willie predicted an early spring. But he was frail, South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson said. His hibernation that year had not rejuvenated him the same as it had in years past.
“He was a little unsteady on his feet. He looked very tired. I was actually quite concerned about him,” Jackson said. “Normally, he’s quite spunky.”
It was to be expected. At 13, Willie had long surpassed the four- year lifespan of a groundhog in the wild.
“Willie was old,” Jackson said. “It was Willie’s time.”
The town had him cremated — because the mayor just didn’t feel right about having him stuffed — and placed in a metallic blue urn that will sit in Wiarton’s historic train station. No official cause of death has been announced, and no autopsy was conducted. The town suggested he died of old age.
On Sept. 30, the town will hold a funeral procession through Bluewater Park, where Willie lived.