Punxsy Phil becomes father of 2
PUNXSUTAWNEY — On Saturday, March 23, 2024, Dr. John Johnston, Punxsutawney Phil’s Chief Healthman, was filling in for his handler, A.J. Dereume who was out of town. As he was about to feed Phil and wife Phyllis, along came two other little heads that poked up in Phil’s Burrow: the world’s most famous groundhogs had babies.
On Wednesday, Tom Dunkel, Groundhog Club Inner Circle president, held a press conference in Phil’s Burrow, located in the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, where he introduced the world to the two little babies that were born Saturday.
“We’re pleased to announce that Punxsutawney Phil has had his first children; we believe there are two baby groundhogs and that Phil and Phyllis have started a family,” Dunkel said. “We’re pleased about it, and I talked to Phil with my cane, which lets me speak Groundhogese, and Phil could not be more excited that he started a family.”
In its research, The
Spirit has discovered that baby groundhogs can be called pups, kits, chucklings or, more rarely, cubs.
Dunkel said the pups have arrived at the perfect moment, as they are in the process of putting in a brand-new zoo at Gobbler’s Knob.
“We will have two active zoos, one here at the library, and we’ll have a second place for Phil’s family to enjoy,” he said.
Dunkel said that Phil and Phyllis did not let members of the Groundhog Club know they were expecting, so it was a total surprise for everyone involved.
“The world needs a little bit of good news and this is good news,” Dunkel said, adding that eventually they’ll have a contest to name the newborn pups.
Dunkel said there will be no succession to the throne, because Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog.
“These are not replacements for Phil; it’s just Phil having a family,” he said. “It took 138 years for this to happen, and it typically doesn’t occur in captivity. I guess we were wrong.”