Comparison of 2006 and 2007 photos shows alarming weight loss
PUNXSUTAWNEY --- Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) announced today that Punxsutawney Phil has entered an eating disorder clinic in upstate New York. The nation’s most famous weather-predicting marmot had lost a significant amount of weight within the last year, and DCNR staged an intervention last week. Phil entered rehab the next morning.
PUNXSUTAWNEY --- Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) announced today that Punxsutawney Phil has entered an eating disorder clinic in upstate New York. The nation’s most famous weather-predicting marmot had lost a significant amount of weight within the last year, and DCNR staged an intervention last week. Phil entered rehab the next morning.
"Eating disorders have both physical and psychological dimensions,” said DCNR biologist Bob Brenneman. “It’s hard to say exactly what’s bothering him because he doesn’t talk, but it looks like a whole series of events led to his problems.”
Phil appeared to be riding high in February, 2006 (top photo). Apparently a Steelers fan, Phil emerged from his burrow holding a Terrible Towel and rooting for a Steelers victory, which came two days later. “But then, things started to spiral downhill,” Brenneman said. “The Steelers went 8-8 last season, and he seemed a little down. Then he was passed over for the Rozerum sleeping pill commercials, and he got a little more depressed. He lost a little weight and he was sleeping a lot, but that’s kind of normal for groundhogs anyway.”
By February 2, 2007, biologists felt something was wrong (bottom photo), but Phil went ahead with his weather prediction anyway. According to the Brenneman: “That’s when the bottom really fell out. Maybe he wasn’t thinking clearly by then, but he predicted an early spring. Within a few days we had a horrible snowstorm and the cold weather stayed through mid-April. The criticism has been unrelenting. He stopped eating altogether, and we felt we had to step in.”
Although many of the nation’s best eating disorder clinics are located in California, the DCNR felt that climate would be too warm for the furry creature and sent him to a facility in Buffalo, New York, instead. “We hope he doesn’t get even more depressed because he’s in Buffalo,” Brenneman joked. “We just want our fat and happy groundhog back.”
