The robots are coming for Punxsutawney Phil's job, too. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on the keepers of the weather-forecasting groundhog to let him retire — and to be replaced by an animatronic groundhog.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on the keepers of the weather-forecasting groundhog to let him retire -- and to be replaced by an animatronic groundhog.
wrote in a letter to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club on Monday that it was time for the beloved tradition to change.Every February 2, Phil gets dragged out of his hole and held up to flashing lights and crowds in what is a highly stressful experience for him, said. And his current accommodations don't allow him to dig, burrow or forage like non-famous groundhogs naturally do."It's no kind of life for these animals,"
president Ingrid Newkirk wrote. Read MoreThe Punxsutawney Groundhog Club could not be immediately reached for comment.Phil lives in a man-made, climate-controlled and light-regulated zoo, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's website. That zoo is connected with local attractions including a park, square and library in the town of Punxsutawney, in western Pennsylvania.
suggests that instead, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club get hip to existing technologies and create a groundhog with artificial intelligence that could reliably predict the weather. "An AI Phil would renew interest in Punxsutawney, generating a great deal of buzz, much like Sony's robot dog 'aibo,' which walks, plays, misbehaves, and responds to commands," the letter reads.
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