A while back, a man named Jeff set out to find the mysterious creature intent on destroying his garden. “Everything I planted was getting eaten to shreds,” he says in a video about his curse. Determined to solve his problem, Jeff installed a motion detector camera and identified the source of his trouble: A groundhog with an insatiable appetite for destroying gardens.
The Dodo’s original video of Jeff’s groundhog-ruined garden was shared around by @valhallabckgirl who called it “one of the fucking funniest things I have ever watched.” This is not overblown praise. The footage of the groundhog, which mostly involves the furry rodent staring directly into the camera as it demolishes apples, tomatoes, and carrots, clearly demonstrates how good animals are at deadpan physical comedy.
“He looked straight into the camera like he was saying, ‘Yeah, I’m here. I’m eating your garden. What are you gonna do about it?,’” Jeff recalls.
After a few attempts to defy the groundhog with improved fences, Jeff noticed that it was starting to bring another furry, blank-eyed buddy along with it. The groundhogs had defeated him. His yard was now their turf and he understood that the only way to enjoy peaceful relations with the invaders was to create a special miniature garden for them as tribute. He built it over the winter and the groundhogs returned from hibernation, now with babies in tow. The upshot is that Jeff was now able to capture even more footage of groundhogs, big and small, holding fruit and vegetables in their weird little hands as they gnash their food into pulp and look into his cameras.
We should also inform you that the groundhogs are on social media now. The first one’s name is Chunk The Groundhog and Chunk’s lady-friend is named Nibbles. Their children are named Chip, Chibbles, and Nugget. They do dances on YouTube. The babies eat at miniature picnic tables. Do with that information what you will.
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13 Comments
The Dodo is pretty amazing. Abandoned cat story too.
Chunk is great and all, but this story is at least a year old. Here’s the original Dodo post from September 2019.:https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/gardener-films-chunk-groundhog-vegetable-thief
seems staged.
Staged!? Some people are just jerks. I love the dodo, I have an account with the dodo, it’s so much fun. Everyone should go to their site, you won’t believe the funny and sometimes sad or melancholy stories there are. There is absolutely nothing staged ever. Things are sent to the dodo from all over the world.
Staged!? That’s not fair. The dodo never stages anything. I’ve enjoyed The dodo for years and have an account with them. They get stories from all around the world, most are funny or cute, some are a bit melancholy. Go to their site, you will definitely enjoy it.
Oh I like their videos. But this guy def put food out right in front of his cameras.
The crowd is on its feet here in Augusta, the normally reserved Augusta crowd…going wild…
That fearless dead-eyed animal stare is familiar to me. I was given it by a rabbit who chomped all the flowers and buds off my flowers. Left nothing but stems. I stepped out to shoo him away and he just stared at me, as if to say, “We both know I can outrun you. And we both know you can’t stay out here all day guarding these delicious flowers. So let’s just skip the silly charade where you pretend to drive me away. Ok? Good.”
Roast Groundhog with vegetable stuffing. Hmmmm, hmm. What will his yard be like in 5 years when he has 50 of them gorging themselves?
Has “Steve” shown up yet?