PETA passion
She came from Florida to save Punxsutawney Phil
On a cold Tuesday, lifelong Florida resident Amanda Brody traveled to Punxsutawney, but not to take part in Groundhog Day festivities. She and 10 others arrived a day early to protest “the abuse of live animals.”
Brody, 29, is a senior campaigner for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She travels the country, organizing and leading protests against animal abuse. It’s a full-time job and “my career and passion,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in West Palm Beach. She’s signed on with PETA four years ago — one year after she became a vegan and stopped eating all animals and dairy products.
The protestors did not stay for Punxsutawney Phil’s big weather reveal on Wednesday — six more weeks of winter — but they did visit him Tuesday in his habitat inside the local library. Two big windows give visitors a 24/7 view of the groundhog, although he spends much of his time in a burrow that gives him privacy.
“Phil looked bored and lonely, stuck in his little enclosure,” Brody said. “A groundhog would never choose to live like that.”
Punxsutawney Phil should be sent to a “reputable sanctuary” to live “the life nature intended for him,” according to PETA president Ingrid Newkirk. Phil is a wild animal who should be “hibernating, digging, burrowing, foraging, smelling fresh air and simply living like a sentient being, not an exhibit.”
The 75-minute protest on Tuesday was announced on a PETA event page, and although only 11 people showed up to carry signs, Brody said it was a success.
“A lot of people stopped by to talk to us. Some of them said they thought PETA has a point” about Phil’s plight. “The police were very nice, and officers stopped to talk to us and listen to us. Midway through the protest, a woman joined us. Although she lives in Punxsutawney, she said she is a lifelong PETA member.”
Brody did not meet any of the members of the Punxsutawney
Groundhog Club. “I hear they’re very secretive,” she said.
Members of the club’s “inner circle” are not hard to find. Club president Jeff Lundy and Phil’s handler, A. J. Dereume, said they expect to hear from PETA near Groundhog Day.
“We get a letter every year or two from PETA,” said Dereume.
“I’m disappointed PETA didn’t do something more creative,” Lundy said. Neither seemed upset or concerned about the protest, and the club has no intention of halting a tradition that dates back to 1887 and brings a lot of attention and tourist dollars into the town of 5,700 residents.
Everyone appeared to benefit from PETA’s protest and public letter suggesting using persimmon
seeds rather than a groundhog to predict winter weather. Both sides got media publicity for an event that attracts 10,000-20,000 people every February. It takes a year of planning to pull off each Groundhog Day, Lundy said, and it’s important to the economy of the Jefferson County town 85 miles north of Pittsburgh.
He and Dereume say Phil is livin’ large compared to the many groundhogs who live in cities, suburbs and rural areas.
Groundhogs are at the bottom of nature’s food chain, club members say. They are chased, killed and eaten by coyotes, hawks and dogs or killed by hunters, farmers and gardeners. People who raise horses and cattle hate groundhogs because their holes can sometimes break animals’ legs if they step in them. A groundhog’s life expectancy in the wild is two to four years.
Phil, on the other hand, is 136 years old, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Phil always has a female companion named Phyllis, and she can live seven to 14 years in their indoor enclosure, they said.
Forty dollars per week is spent to give Phil and Phyllis the fresh vegetables and fruit they love. Bananas, a favorite food, is not available in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania. They also have an endless supply of dry kibble, Dereume said.
PETA believes Phil should not be subjected to the large crowds and bright lights of Groundhog
Day. Lundy and Dereume said Phil doesn’t mind and even seems to enjoy the company.
Brody is driving to Miami next week for an anti-vivisection exhibit. “Terrible things are done to animals used in medical research” and the production of shampoo and other beauty and health products, she said.
PETA and other organizations have long lobbied against manufacturers who pry open the eyes of rabbits to apply shampoo. It’s one of PETA’s successes in terms or raising awareness. To see a list of products that aren’t tested on animals, go to peta.org.
“Some companies have stopped it and others have not,” Brody said.
She admits the Miami climate is more to her liking. “We lucked out in Punxsutawney. It was only in the 30s, but I’m not used to standing out in the cold.”
If you check out her Facebook page, you’ll see some of her other protests, including her favorite: In Mobile, Ala., PETA members elaborately costumed as aliens pretended to eat “free range humans.”
“Phil looked bored and lonely, stuck in his little enclosure. A groundhog would never choose to live like that.” — Amanda Brody, senior campaigner for PETA