Call PETA!

Punxsutawney Phil may be in trouble.

The cute, lovable groundhog went from famous to infamous in one innocent sighting of his shadow Monday morning.

The world’s most notable woodchuck wiped the sleep from his beady little eyes, stuck his head out of hole at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania and low-and-behold … saw his shadow.

Six more weeks of winter according to the burrowing little herbivore. 

It sent a shock wave across the southern United States, where plenty of us warm-weather sun-ivores were hoping winter was coming to an end. And quickly. 

Excuse those of us down here, we are still pretty frazzled — and frozen — from the historic polar bear weather that blanketed most of the United States. 

Speaking of blankets, I feel like I still need to be wrapped up in one despite the 60-something degree temperatures Monday. It’s like Kramer said in Season 9 of Seinfeld after falling asleep in the hot tub when the heat pump broke and the water temperature plummeted.

“I can’t get my core temperature back up.”

I feel ya, buddy. 

But back to Phil …

Shortly after the news broke yesterday of his shadowy sighting, the internet went ape — well I guess groundhog-?#$! crazy. 

Threats. Threats. And more threats.

Pitchforks and axes and grills directed at Phil. It was very disturbing to see such a collective vile outburst of violence towards the little fella. 

Here’s hoping that the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club has plenty of security measures in place and that Phil uses his innate talents of swimming, burrowing, and tree climbing to his advantage. I, for one, don’t want to see harm coming to the little whistlepig. 

Although if SnowBirdBob’s latest prediction of another severe winter storm across the south in mid-February comes true, Punxsutawney Phil bar the door!

And definitely don’t travel this direction or you may find yourself on someone’s Bar-B-Q.

---