PETA Wants Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day Tradition To Be Replaced With Weather-Reveal Cake
PETA has come up with a lot of crazy suggestions to address problems that don’t exist, all in the name of protecting animals. We’re not even a full month into 2025, and they are still going strong.
Everyone knows about Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who lives in a town in Pennsylvania of the same name. Every year since 1877, a groundhog has come out from his burrow and makes a prediction about how long the winter will last. If he sees his shadow, six more weeks of frigid cold. No shadow, spring will be just around the corner. Of course, it's not scientific, but it's a fun tradition that everyone loves. Heck, it was even the inspiration of a hilarious Bill Murray movie.
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But PETA doesn’t like it, claiming it's cruel that for one day out of 365, a groundhog gets brought out in front of a crowd for a few hours. Instead, they suggested doing a - wait for it - whether-reveal cake to get a forecast for the spring.
"Retire Phil to a reputable sanctuary with his family, and every year we’ll provide a giant vegan ‘Weather Reveal’ cake (it would be the first in the world this year) to share with revelers at Gobbler’s Knob," PETA said in a statement released on Jan. 21. "If the inside of the cake is blue, there will be six more weeks of winter. If it’s pink, there will be an early spring. This would allow you to still make tourism dough while showing Phil a slice of decency. It would be at least as accurate as asking a groundhog what to expect in a way that doesn’t even reflect his nature."
The illogical argument and the horrific cake puns continued:
"You batter believe that for Phil, Groundhog Day is no piece of cake. Groundhogs are shy prey animals who, when allowed, actively avoid humans. Yet, year after year, Phil is transported to Gobler’s Knob, whisked on stage, and subjected to a noisy announcer, screaming crowds, and flashing lights against all his natural instincts."

Dude.
Phil lives like an actual king in a climate-controlled burrow for the entire year. Doing this ceremony once a year - where he is also given a royal treatment - is not going to irreparably harm the groundhog.
And the vegan cake? Really? No one would want to eat that and it takes away the whole point of the tradition. Punxsutawney relies on this yearly tradition for a lot of its income, no one would come for a cake.
I’m all for keeping this tradition alive and well. PETA can go find something else to try and ruin (and they probably will).