Winter is not yet ready to start making its exit, according to Violet, a Vancouver Island marmot who predicted six more weeks of winter.
This is the third year for Violet predicting whether there will be a longer winter, and Adam Taylor, executive director of the Marmot Recovery Foundation, says she has a good track record.
“So far, she is two for two, successfully calling longer winters for both years,” Taylor says in the YouTube video.
While Dr. Malcolm McAdie weighs the marmots living in captivity at the Tony Barrett Mt Washington Marmot Recovery Centre, Violet makes the prediction
“Malcolm is indicating she has seen her shadow. Impressive really. Violet just looks sleepy to me, but Malcolm is the expert and in the room.”
This makes the third year in a row that Violet has predicted a longer winter.
“An opportunity for Violet an opportunity, perhaps, to hibernate just a little bit longer,” Taylor says. “Have we considered that Violet might be a little bit biased?”
The Vancouver Island marmots are an endangered species of marmot. In 2003, only 31 of the marmots remained in the wild.
Conservation efforts have brought the number of marmots in the wild back up to 301, as of 2023.
Elsewhere in Canada, groundhogs are predicting a more favourable outcome.
Ontario’s Wiarton Willie, Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam and Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte all reportedly did not see their shadows on Friday morning, predicting an early spring.
The consensus on spring’s early arrival extended to western Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil.
Watch Violet’s prediction below:
-With files from The Canadian Press
Laura Brougham
