PETA offers to replace Punxsutawney Phil with vegan cake
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Groundhog Day is just around the corner, and PETA is again trying to offer up an alternative to Punxsutawney Phil.
Every year, PETA tries to convince the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club to let Phil retire and replace him with some other way to predict whether it will be an early spring or if six more weeks of winter lie ahead.
This year, in a pun-filled letter to the president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle, PETA suggested a gender reveal-style vegan cake that would be blue for more winter and pink for an early spring. PETA said they'd provide the cake every year in exchange for letting Phil and his family retire to a reputable sanctuary.
"This would allow you to still make tourism dough while showing Phil a slice of decency. It would be as least as accurate as asking a groundhog what to expect in a way that doesn't even reflect his nature," PETA President Ingrid Newkirk wrote.
PETA acknowledged that its yearly offer is starting to feel a bit like "Groundhog Day." In the past, it has suggested an animatronic groundhog, persimmon seeds and, most recently, a giant gold coin.
"If you don't like this idea, the icing on the cake is that we have another offer: We'd be happy to send you a large thermometer for Gobbler's Knob instead that reads, 'If it's still cold, it's still winter,' which would aptly represent the absurdity of the current form of this tired old spectacle. We look forward to hearing from you, as always," PETA wrote.
The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club was founded in the 1880s. The club's Inner Circle manages the festivities of the day, bringing Phil out of his stump at Gobblers Knob the morning of Feb. 2 so he can make his prediction.
