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Ed Yeates Reporting Okay, we know what's happening back east, but what about here in the West? What about our spring? As of today, we have a new icon for making Utah predictions.
I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of pretending we're "groundhogeans" every February. I mean look at what we have to do to try and fit in.
At Salt Lake County Youth Services, was the beast in this case so feisty it bit her hand?
"So you need to determine if you want to grab him. He's had breakfast. He's really stuffed."
But never mind. Open the cage. Does this groundhog agree with his brother in Pennsylvania?
We can only pretend what he says, it appears, since this guy is actually a toy groundhog wearing sunglasses!
Okay, so officially we don't have a groundhog in Utah and youth services only has a stuffed one from Pennsylvania. So here's the new tradition for out here in the west: the prairie dog.
They're a lot smarter than us. They stay where it's nice and warm when it's this cold outside.
They're also sleeker, trimmer, not as ugly - and their predictions, when called upon, are rock solid.
Tracy Woodell, what do you think?
Tracy Woodell, Hogle Zoo Animal Care Staff: "Are you absolutely convinced that because our prairie dogs did not come out today in this weather and did not see their shadow, that we're going to have an early spring?"
Sure, sounds great to me. That would be great. I think you might be right about that!
