How an Ohio radio station made a Groundhog Day prediction without a groundhog

It was a Groundhog Day unlike any other.

Each Feb. 2, Buckeye Chuck emerges in Marion, Ohio to look for his shadow and predict whether we'll have another six weeks of winter. It's Ohio's less-famous version of Pennsylvania's media darling Punxsutawney Phil.

But in a strange twist, there was no live Buckeye Chuck this year. Instead, WMRN-AM radio personality Paul James, who emceed the event, was joined on stage by a stuffed groundhog, standing stoically atop a base adorned with a "Buckeye Chuck" nameplate.

That groundhog seemed incapable of scratching his ear, much less making a complex weather prediction.

So where was Chuck?

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As the moment of truth approached, James threw it over to a reporter, suspiciously off camera, who said he was standing outside Buckeye Chuck's burrow somewhere in the woods.

"I thought I heard a few leaves moving so I'm really like I'm trying to get down as far as I can to see if I can just see him, but nothing yet," the reporter said.

Then, after recognizing a few people who showed up from New York to take in the festivities, James sent it back to the reporter who delivered bad news for people waiting for warmer temps: "It's quieted down a little bit."

Ohioans will have to shiver through six more weeks of winter.

"It is a beautiful, clear morning in Marion, Ohio," James said. "And Buckeye Chuck has seen his shadow, or he would have, but he decided to stay in his burrow today."

So what happened to Chuck?

Buckeye Chuck is Ohio's designated groundhog tasked with predicting the arrival of spring. WMRN-AM in Marion has been in charge of the event since 1979.

The same year, the Ohio legislature made Buckeye Chuck Ohio's official groundhog.

In the days leading up to Buckeye Chuck's appearance this year, animal rights organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) called on WMRN-AM to stop using live animals for its prediction. PETA was concerned about the involvement of Kokas Exotics, an exotic animal breeder located in Marion County that has supplied a live groundhog for the radio station event for several years.

A spokesperson from WMRN-AM previously told the Marion Star that Kokas Exotics would not be involved in the Groundhog Day event this year.

PETA purchased a billboard across the street from the WMRN-AM studios protesting the event. The billboard, with a photograph of a groundhog on it, reads: "I'm ME, not a meteorologist. It's time to chuck this tired old 'tradition.'"

Despite the absence of a live groundhog, Ohioans seemed fine with accepting the prediction.

The Ohio Department of Transportation tweeted that the agency "might be rooting for spring" against the extended winter forecast.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Groundhog Day 2023: Buckeye Chuck was stuffed this year. Really