Groundhog Trapping & Control
Every February 2nd, eyes across the country turn to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, hoping for an early spring prediction. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club has tracked weather predictions for over 100 years, and their famous groundhog has chosen the warmer option just 15 times — meaning shadow or not, accuracy is not exactly his strong suit.
Also called the whistle-pig or woodchuck, the groundhog's name has nothing to do with wood. It comes from the Native American word "wuchak," meaning digger. That fact may have inspired the famous tongue-twister — a Cornell University study estimated a woodchuck could chuck about 700 pounds of wood if it chose to.
The Damage Groundhogs Cause
Groundhogs are found in parks, pastures, suburbs, fence lines, under decks, and near porches. Their underground burrows can be six feet deep and seven feet wide, with up to a dozen separate openings — each one a potential trip and fall hazard for people, livestock, and horses. The burrowing also destabilizes ground structures, damages electric pipes and irrigation systems, and can weaken foundations. They have even chewed up wiring inside vehicles.
Their diet is almost entirely vegetation — berries, twigs, fruit, and tree bark — and they can consume more than a pound of food in a single day. In a commercial setting, that appetite can wipe out entire crop rows. To prepare for hibernation during roughly 150 days of winter sleep, they spend the warmer months building up fat reserves and dramatically slowing their breathing, from about 16 breaths per minute down to just 2.
What To Do
Groundhogs are aggressive, difficult to keep confined, and hosts for fleas, ticks, and the pathogens they carry. In the Sullivan and surrounding areas, Advanced Wildlife Control has been protecting neighbors from nuisances like groundhogs for years. Contact us today for a professional assessment and removal.