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Groundhogs not really cuddly

A ground hog nibbles last summer at the Shaw Avenue dump site in Charles City. — Photo by Romaine Wells
A ground hog nibbles last summer at the Shaw Avenue dump site in Charles City. — Photo by Romaine Wells

Farm country nuisance at the heart of Feb. 2 holiday

By Chris Baldus, cbaldus@charlescitypress

Don’t believe the hype.

They don’t really care if you need to wait another six months for spring. They’ll likely be sleeping anyway.

They are wild animals that don’t really like hanging around with us at all. When a handler tried to have Jimmy nuzzle the mayor of Sun Prairie, Wis., last year, of course the mayor got bit.

Still, we have a national holiday named after them — Groundhog Day. It’s next Thursday, Feb. 2. The tradition is if a groundhog sees its shadow expect six more weeks of winter weather. If it doesn’t, expect an early spring.

“Groundhog Day originates from an ancient celebration of the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox — the day right in the middle of astronomical winter,” the National Centers for Environmental Information reports on its website. “According to superstition, sunny skies that day signify a stormy and cold second half of winter while cloudy skies indicate the arrival of warm weather.”

Heavy body, dark feet, dark bushy tail, and among the most common wildlife nuisances is how the Iowa Association of Naturalists describes groundhogs, also known as woodchucks.

“Woodchucks, pocket gophers, ground squirrels, and chipmunks cause significant damage to field crops and gardens,” its report on Iowa mammals says.

In Charles City, the police are well aware of groundhogs. “We get numerous calls all summer long,” Police Chief Hugh Anderson said.

Groundhogs hibernate through the winter.

The rodents do not go timidly when animal control is dispatched. They’re even hard on the cages, Anderson said.

While a raccoon, which is about the same size as a ground hog, will sit timidly in the animal control cage, groundhogs beat on it trying to get out, he said.

Police have not seen a groundhog in Charles City yet this year, although they did need to deal with an opossum recently.

“We’ll let you know if we see a shadow,” Anderson said.

The Shaw Avenue compost site, where residents can dispose of brush and trees, is a popular home for among groundhogs, according to Randy Vandeventer, who owns and operates R Campground nearby.

“They like side hills and places they can dig,” he said. “They don’t like to dig straight down.”

They’re usually not a big problem, he said, but he watches for them because of the nature of the damage they can do, such as compromising underground wires while burrowing. Even if they just chew off insulation, that leaves the insides of the wire to rot and eventually break, he said.

A good dog bred to go after burrowing animals can do well, Vandeventer said. Examples of these kind of dogs include terriers and dachshunds.

Iowa grants a continuous open season on groundhogs.

–20170226 — 

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