ANIMAL-RIGHTS group PETA have asked organisers of the annual Groundhog Day spectacle in Philadelphia to replace a live groundhog used in a ceremony each year to be replaced by a robot.
Each year on February 2, a groundhog known as "Punxsutawney Phil" is presented to the public.
According to the longtime tradition, if Phil sees his shadow on the unofficial holiday, then there will be six more weeks of winter.
If he does not appear to see his shadow, there will be an early spring.
USA Today today ran a letter written by Gemma Vaughan, a PETA "Animals in Entertainment specialist", to Bill Deeley, president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.
