Groundhog III: Revenge of the Groundhog

[rusty_armour]

The groundhog has turned. The sweet, sociable Edwards Gardens' groundhog of old has become downright confrontational. I'll admit that I may have been partly to blame. I chose to bring a bagel with peanut butter for lunch. The smell of peanut butter alone might have been enough to entice the groundhog. I had been feeding some crackers to a black squirrel and hoped the groundhog would be satisfied with crackers too. It wasn't. My pitiful shrieks and frantic shooing motions wouldn't deter the groundhog either. It almost jumped up on the bench while I was sitting there. As I quickly packed away my lunch, it circled the bench and actually nudged my foot with its snout. It was at this point that I leapt up from the bench and beat a hasty retreat. The groundhog was trying to climb up the back of the bench as I fled to a new spot.

I think I was sitting on the same bench last year when I almost ended up with a squirrel in my lap, so I suppose it could be the location. However, I suspect that people like me are to blame. If you're going to feed animals, you shouldn't be surprised when those same animals begin to associate people with food and become increasingly aggressive and brazen, especially if peanut butter is involved. I know the groundhog was only interested in my bagel, but it still freaked me out. I enjoy seeing wildlife up close, but not that close. *g*

Comments

[crimsoncorundum]

LOL. I had no idea groundhogs could be so aggressive. And you have rabies in Canada, don't you? I can understand that you were concerned about getting too close to the wildlife.

[rusty_armour]

They're not usually aggressive. In fact, the groundhogs that I've seen outside of Edwards Gardens are quite shy and scared of people. I think the Edwards Gardens variety are very tame because they're used to people and know they can get food from them. And you're right about rabies. We do have it in Canada, which is the main reason why I'm wary about getting too close to wildlife. I'm afraid of being bitten.

[crimsoncorundum]

That must be scary.
Another thing - I'm still looking forward to reading your RoS fic, but between taking care of the twins and trying to get a little work done, not to mention dealing with headaches, I haven't had time for it yet. Hopefully I'll get to it soon. :)

[rusty_armour]

That must be scary.

Yeah, just a bit. I doubt this particular groundhog had rabies, but I wouldn't want to be bitten all the same...

Another thing - I'm still looking forward to reading your RoS fic, but between taking care of the twins and trying to get a little work done, not to mention dealing with headaches, I haven't had time for it yet. Hopefully I'll get to it soon. :)

No problem! I can only imagine how challenging it must be to find free time when you're looking after twins on top of everything else. Read it when it's convenient for you and you're in the mood for it. The story isn't going anywhere, so take as much time as you like. :-)

BTW, I'm working on my first RoS slash. It's going to be very dark and twisted -- Well, for me, anyway. *g*

[crimsoncorundum]

I'm looking forward to that too. :)

[rusty_armour]

Thanks! I hope it doesn't disappoint! :-)

[grondfic]

Heh! I love that groundhog with the devil-horns.

How big are they, relative to - say - a squirrel? If they're like marmots, they're big enough to be scary if being aggressive I should think.

[rusty_armour]

They're definitely bigger than a squirrel and very much like a marmot. Yeah, groundhogs are probably around the same size. I did a quick search on Google and read that adult groundhogs are 41 cm long and 3.9 kg. They're actually really cute, but scary if they're trying to get at your peanut butter bagel. *g*

This vid might give you a good idea of their size and nature (when food is involved):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSo-VBxlRCQ

[grondfic]

Heh! They're kinda cute in a galumphy way. I laughed when he did a 'don't-bother-me-I'm-eating' when the guy tried to pet him.

Thanks for the link. It did give me a sense of perspective on groundhogs.

[rusty_armour]

I hate to be cynical, but I'm pretty sure Grady was there for the food alone. He certainly didn't seem to appreciate being pet on the head when chowing down on his meal, but I'm guessing that's the only time the guy can get near him. *g*

I'm glad the vid helped give you a sense of perspective on groundhogs. If you ever want to learn more, there are a ton of other groundhog vids on YouTube. ;-)

[grondfic]

Thanks -I'll take a browse.