Celebrity groundhog fails in escape bid
Punxsutawney Phil, who starred alongside Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day”, appears to have tired of his status as the world’s most famous weather forecasting rodent after being thwarted in a series of audacious escape attempts.
When not being pulled out of a burrow by a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln, Punxsutawney Phil spends his time living in a manmade den in the Pennsylvania town’s library.
But the rodent has escaped from his den three times in the past week, climbing into the ceiling of the building and and travelling around 50 feet before dropping into library offices.
Though Phil has so far been unsuccessful in his prison break-style escapades, library staff are trying to curb his escapist instincts for fear he could hurt himself falling through the ceiling.
Though groundhogs usually only live for a few years, Groundhog Day officials claim there has only been one Punxsutawney Phil, despite the tradition stretching back to the 1880s.
They say the secret of Phil’s longevity is a magic potion called the “elixir of life” which gives Phil seven more years of life for every sip.
Phil emerges from his burrow, Gobbler’s Knob, on 2 February each year. If he sees his own shadow that means there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow an early spring looms.