Groundhog bites US mayor’s ear during ceremony

“Jimmy” the groundhog bites the ear of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Mayor Jonathan Freund. Screengrab from The Associated Press’s YouTube account.

SUN PRAIRIE, Wisconsin— A mayor in Wisconsin has learned a valuable lesson about his city’s weather-predicting groundhog: Don’t get too close.

Jimmy, the official groundhog in Sun Prairie, bit the mayor’s ear during a Groundhog Day celebration on Monday.

The groundhog’s handler was holding the animal next to Mayor Jonathan Freund’s face when it promptly bit down.

Freund flinched, but he went on with his declaration that Jimmy had predicted an early spring.

WISC-TV reports that the Groundhog Day celebration became even more precarious when Jimmy’s handlers, Jerry and Maria Hahn, said the mayor had gotten it wrong and that there would be six more weeks of winter.

The city later issued a statement saying only the mayor can translate Jimmy’s prediction.