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It’s time for Malverne Mel to hang up his shadow.
That’s what PETA and Humane Long Island are urging Malverne Mayor Timothy Sullivan to do this Groundhog Day. They’ve written the mayor a letter, asking him to rethink the community’s annual celebration featuring the furry forecaster and to replace Mel with a willing human “groundhog” in costume.
With Feb. 2 now just around the corner, PETA has also rolled out an ad campaign across 10 area buses, declaring the Malverne tradition outdated and stressing that Mel and all groundhogs belong in the wild, not on stage.
At last year’s early morning event in Malverne, Mel made a break for it and attempted to escape the spotlight. Further, Malverne Mel wailed, squealed and struggled mightily to evade his handler, while the mayor presided over the traditional spectacle.
“Groundhogs belong with their families in the forests and fields they call home, not in a cage and certainly not being manhandled for a silly stunt,” said Humane Long Island Director John DiLeonardo, a Malverne native. “It’s time to end Malverne’s yearly tradition of tormenting Mel and switch to Groundhog Day festivities that everyone can enjoy.”
Sullivan responded to PETA and Humane Long Island’s letter by emphasizing that the village’s Groundhog Day event has been a cherished tradition for generations, held in partnership with the Long Island-based STAR Foundation, which cares for injured and orphaned animals.
In his letter, a copy of which was supplied by Sullivan to Greater Long Island, the mayor made no mention of changing the event, but did agree to meet with the organizations. Separately, DiLeonardo noted that he is meeting with Sullivan next week.
‘Enormous stress’
DiLeonardo last February helped organize a Groundhog Day event in Babylon where a person in a groundhog costume debuted as Babylon Belle. PETA has agreed to send Malverne a similar costume if the community buys in.
“Groundhogs like Mel can’t predict the weather, but they do feel enormous stress when they’re paraded in front of noisy crowds for a photo op,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said. “PETA is calling on Malverne to let Mel walk — as he clearly wants to do — and use only willing humans in future events.”
Newkirk and DiLeonardo co-signed the letter to the mayor, outlining a list of alternatives, including a human in costume, an animatronic groundhog with artificial intelligence, or even a stuffed toy. They also raised concerns about potential zoonotic risks from handling groundhogs, highlighting the possibility of disease transmission between animals and humans.
Sullivan noted in his reply that Mel the groundhog is exclusively handled by its caretaker, not by village staff, and that the event includes an annual donation to support STAR’s wildlife protection efforts. The mayor wrote further that the village holds “the ceremony at Crossroads Farm, one of the last operating farms in Nassau County, which provides an ideal backdrop for families to experience nature and conservation.”
“It is through this event, and other investments that we are making into our parks and preserves that we strive to educate our residents on the value of environmental conservatorship,” Sullivan wrote, “which includes education about wildlife and the importance of protecting their habitats.”
Top photo: Last year’s Groundhog Day event in Malverne (Facebook).