Exploring the Ozarks Outdoors: freshare.net

Day of the Groundhog

By RandyR

First posted on 08-13-2007

You’d never expect it of Punxsutawney Phil or any of his relatives for that matter. Neither did wildlife biologists.

Reports started to come in this summer of bark being stripped off trees high above the ground.

“We were kind of shocked when it turned out to be groundhogs,” said Todd Meese, a wildlife damage biologist in Kansas City for the Missouri Department of Conservation. “We haven’t had any calls like it prior.”

Groundhogs will climb trees, but generally cause no damage. But they seem to have become accustomed to peeling the bark off certain species, like ash, honey locust and elm.

“I’ve probably had a couple of calls a week on this in the past months,” Meese said. “I’ve had 13 calls today, and six of them were about groundhogs.”

No one is quite certain why the groundhogs have developed a talent for stripping off bark, but wildlife experts speculate they may be trying to access tree sap in the moist tree tissue layer just beneath the bark.

Vegetarians, groundhogs will often invade gardens to sample fruits and supplement the grasses, clovers and flowers that make up their diets.

The damage they cause to a tree resembles beaver gnawings, Meese said, only the teeth marks are not as deep. Those trees usually recover, and there is little a property owner need do to aid the damaged tree.

The only long-range cure for the bark removing groundhogs is to get rid of the animals. Property owners can call private companies that remove nuisance wildlife, or they can call conservation agencies across Missouri to seek further advice.

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