BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 14, 2024
An under-the-weather groundhog is now resting peacefully after stowing away beneath the hood of a car and getting a free ride to the far side of Portland Harbor on Wednesday. The rodent was spotted lying listless in the VA Clinic parking lot on Commercial Street. A pair of unnamed humans attempted to corral the buck-toothed furball to safety with a pair of thick gloves and a towel. They succeeded in keeping it away from the busy road, but the groundhog dashed straight for one of their cars, vanishing somewhere under the hood. Unable to find the obviously ill, yet still canny, beast, the car was then driven home, across the Casco Bay Bridge. “Once home, she discovered that the groundhog was in fact… still there.” Cape Elizabeth Animal Control Officer Maggie Maxwell was able to coax the recalcitrant, rough-looking animal out of its hiding place in one of the car’s wheel wells.