GROUND HOGS
Peanut's Story and Babies

Peanut was spotted in June of 2000 when we first moved to our home. After a while of attempting to figure out what she was it was determined she was a ground hog. She would clean up the mess of seeds and other items fed to the birds and it was quickly established that she preferred the peanuts and bread which gave her the name Peanut. After a few years of patience, time and persistence, Peanut began to tolerate human interaction. Later she learned to eat from our hands and even allowed us to pet her briefly. In the last 2 years Peanut even learned her name and would come when called, looking for food of course. Peanut would arrive every spring; either late March or early April, thin and hungry from a long winters sleep. Into May you could see she was nursing and the first week in June she would always bring the babies to the patio door for food. Watching Peanut and the babies grow in preparation for winter was the highlight of every summer for us. The babies learned ground hog social and survival skills and grew bigger with every week. By the end of July or beginning of August, Peanut would move the grown babies to their own homes and move to her winter home. Each year Peanut had babies: the first year there was only 1, the last year there were 3, and every year in between there were 6. In total, she populated the neighborhood with 29 babies from 2000 to 2006.

Peanut was a wonderful companion, taught us the vaule of trust and respect, and a super mother to all her children.





On May 2nd, 2007 Peanut’s life came to a tragic end by fate of the neighbor’s dog. I was calling to Peanut as I hadn’t seen her come for breakfast yet and saw Peanut in the dog’s mouth. After retrieving Peanut from the dog and telling the neighbors what had happened, I took a short day at work and came home to dig up my lawn in search of potential babies. After 3 hours of digging, approximately 15’ long up to 4’ deep in places, we located 8 orphaned baby ground hogs. Helpless, hairless, cold and crying we brought them in the house, warmed their temperature and fed them every 2 hours, 24 hours a day for 6 days until other arrangements could be made. Peanut was laid to rest where her babies were dug up with pictures of her babies and where they would be set free.





We located a licensed wildlife rehabilitator out of town who graciously accepted the 8 baby ground hogs to raise and set free. After a trip to the vet the following day it was discovered that a majority of the babies suffered from metabolic bone disease, swimmer puppy syndrome and possible other genetic disorders. With the diagnosis grim, attempts to increase their survival were attempted. With much appreciated weekly or biweekly updates and pictures, the rehabilitator kept us posted on the babies progress including the development of their eyes, ears, social skills, snoring, hair texture, teeth; everything we would have witnessed if Peanut were raising the babies herself. I have learned a lot from the rehabilitator about raising babies for the wild and am forever grateful for her help. The surviving 3 babies have found their way to a true wild life and were released on August 5, 2007. Good luck my Peanut’s babies; carry her legacy with you and know you are loved!