Groundhog Day 2010: Punxsutawney Phil Can Now Text You

UPDATE: Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter in 2010.

Don’t feel like traveling all the way to Pennsylvania and standing out in the freezing cold to see what Punxsutawney Phil has to say on this Groundhog Day 2010?

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club invites you to text the word “Groundhog” to 247365. When Phil eventually makes his way out of his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob, you’ll get a text message indicating whether he saw his shadow (which means six more weeks of winter) or didn’t (early spring!).

More here: Groundhog Day

Phil also has a MySpace page, where he states, “I don’t talk much. I’m just like any groundhog, I sleep through the winter months, and eat in the summer. Sometimes I like to sleep in thefreezer, because I’m perfectly snug in there – and it freaks out the family when they go to get some frozen goods.”

On Phil’s Facebook page, he shares this: “I am 12 pounds and 20 inches long. I have brown fur and brown eyes. I like eating, sleeping, climbing, and making appearances.”

The tourism office won’t make any sort of profit from the text messaging project and simply thinks of it as a free promotion. Texting isn’t the only thing getting lots of attention, however.

PETA has criticized the Inner Circle, Phil’s group of caretakers, for keeping the animal in captivity.  They’ve even gone so far as to suggest that they use a robotic groundhog in his place.

“There’s no chance of that whatsoever,” says Mickey Rowley, deputy secretary for tourism at the Department of Community and Economic Development. “Phil is a well cared-for animal. I don’t know why it’s taken 120 years for animal rights reactionaries to even express a concern. The suggestion that it be Disneyfied with animatronics is ludicrous.”

Groundhog Day 15th Anniversary Special Edition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMtWAcVy6-w

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