During the fall we noticed the groundhog would also go under the deck of our back door neighbors and under our deck as well. I did a little research and learned that groundhogs like to burrow and make trails underground. I imagined our little furry friend had quite the nice 3 -room apartment underground with long hallways connecting his three lairs, each located under a different neighbor's deck.
In the winter, after a fresh snowfall, we could see trails leading from under our deck to a group of three trees at the back of our yard. Undoubtedly, our friend had gone out for a stroll. When the snow finally melted, we found some discolored lines running through our yard, all leading to our deck. We tested them out and the ground did not sink beneath our feet, so we thanked out furry friend for digging his tunnel deep enough so as not to ruin our lawn and left him alone.
Yet, in late fall, or maybe early winter, or next door neighbors put out a trap for the little critter. It was a safe trap, so it didn't alarm us, but we wondered why our neighbor didn't find the groundhog as cute as we did. She doesn't have a garden, nor any nice landscaping to speak of, so she can't be concerned about the animal destroying her yard. Unless it was chewing wires under her deck, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't like watching it. I've heard other people complain about chipmunks digging away so much dirt from under their front stoop that it collapsed, but I welcome my little chipmunks (or as Frankie calls them, chipmunkeys). There may be little holes among my carpet roses and day lillies, but I like them!
Last Wednesday, as Frankie and I arrived home after daycare and work, Mario announced that the groundhog had been captured and that he was going back out to check on him. Frankie and I went out to take a look as well. Here is a photo of what we saw:
Mario stood a careful distance away, observing and taking notes. Don't ask me why. He was suddenly a mini-explorer who had discovered some new species. His notes included, "looks like a beaver, long tail, face looks like a bear, struggling," etc. Mario said that Beni had sent him next door to let the neighbors know they had caught the groundhog and they told him they already knew, so we assumed they called animal control.
Mario admitted to me at bathtime that even though he had been taking copious notes, he felt like crying seeing the poor animal locked up like that. Both boys were worried about Mr. Groundhog's fate, and I assured them that animal control would take him to the woods and set him free to live with the other groundhogs. Later, Mario routinely looked out the family room window to see if the groundhog was still there, and sadly, he was.
The next morning, Mario got up and got dressed and the next thing he did was run downstairs to look out of the window and see if the little critter was still there. He was. I know that he's an animal and used to the elements and it wasn't that cold but I really felt bad! I'm sure he was terrified - as per Mario's notes, he did struggle to get out. I'm sure he was colder than usual since he usually sleeps either under a deck or underground.
I told some friends at work about the situation and they said that animal control would have come before dark if they had been called when Mario went over to tell them. This leads me to believe they did not call. For this reason, I am not too pleased with my neighbors. All day at work I worried about the groundhog and planned on calling animal control myself if he was still there when I got home. I also wanted to report my neighbors to the animal cruelty society. Maybe PETA would come and throw red paint on their house! Luckily, by the time I got home, he was gone, cage and all.
Although we are sad to see our neighbor go and will miss him, we wish him well in his new, more animal-friendly home and we just want him to know that he's free to move back in under our deck any time.
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