Groundhog’s Last Day

About a year ago, I sorted through our laceration/bite wound claims data in order to write a press release about common animal attacks. As I expected, claims for coyote attacks and snakebites appeared quite frequently. The surprising part of my research was the relatively large number of claims received for pets injured in fights with much smaller mammals: squirrels, groundhogs, and even rats.

I was reminded of this data recently with the seasonal uptick in laceration/bite wound claims. In just the last couple of weeks we have received claims for a bull mastiff bitten by a squirrel, two German shepherds attacked by a groundhog, and a bulldog injured in a scuffle with a javelina.

What could possibly motivate a groundhog to tangle with, not one, but two German shepherds? I decided to find out, so I called Barry Karger of Glen Rock, NJ. Barry’s German shepherds, Sophy and Kivrin, were treated in June for lacerations following an unfortunate encounter with a groundhog.

According to Barry, Sophy and Kivrin were safely in their fenced back yard, when a groundhog dug under the fence and entered the yard. To Barry’s knowledge, there was no dog food in yard, or any other item that would entice a rodent.

“Sophy and Kivrin froze,” said Barry. “They waited to see if the groundhog would come closer, and when it did, they attacked. The ground hog screamed like a human. It put up a fight, but it never had a chance.”

So why would a 20-pound groundhog wander into clearly marked German shepherd territory?

“Animal control said it was an adolescent,” said Barry. “They said the adolescents are just plain stupid. They said the only thing that’s more stupid than an adolescent groundhog is an adolescent opossum, or maybe an adolescent human.”

Barry’s never had trouble with adolescents—animal or otherwise—in his back yard before. He’s owned Sophy and Kivrin for almost ten years and takes every precaution to ensure their health and safety. He said the groundhog experience reinforced the importance of knowing the location of the closest emergency veterinary hospital and seeking the advice of a veterinarian even though the dogs initially seemed fine.

“The first thing the ER veterinarian did was check their mouths,” said Barry. “I would have never thought about this, but I guess that a lot of the time, when animals fight, they sustain injuries to the mouth.”

The veterinarian treated Sophy and Kivrin for minor lacerations, prescribed antibiotics and gave them each a rabies booster shot. They have since made full recoveries. The groundhog, however, succumbed to one of life’s most dangerous conditions: puberty.