DUNCANSVILLE, Penn. – Recent photos show a groundhog blending into a pile of stuffed animals inside a Duncansville claw machine game.

Located in southern Pennsylvania, Duncansville is home to the Meadows Family Fun Center, where employees discovered the stealthy groundhog. They reported the animal, leading to a state game warden to respond.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission-Southcentral Region said, when the warden arrived, he saw the stuffed animals inside the claw machine game move in a wave-like fashion as the groundhog moved underneath.

The animal then popped its head out above the toys.

To retrieve the groundhog, the vending machine company was contacted to unlock the claw machine game. This allowed the warden to safely capture the groundhog and then release it unharmed, the game commission said.

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Also known as woodchucks, groundhogs are the largest member of the squirrel family in Pennsylvania, according to the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. 

Perhaps the most famous of the Pennsylvania rodents is Punxsutawny Phil, who folklore says can predict the start of spring.

Apple harvest has started in Pennsylvania. “We started a few weeks ago,” says Valerie Ramsburg of the Rice Fruit Company, adding that overall, the crop could look similar to last year’s crop in terms of size, though it’s still very early in the season. “The end of July to the beginning of August has been our typical timing in the last couple of years.”

Earlier in the year, Rice Fruit believed that the season would be early–however, the weather became more seasonal, and warm temperatures kept the crop on the trees. “We’re on a more traditional path right now. Bloom was very good. It was a staggered bloom which we’ve had a few years in a row,” says Ramsburg. Grower-friendly weather meant the blossoms were pollinated over a couple of weeks rather than the shorter few-day window.

There also hasn’t been a lot of rain this season in Pennsylvania, until last week when heavy rain came to the region. “We had a lot of moisture last week which is generally not a good thing when you’re starting harvest. The sunshine returned and fortunately, there hasn’t been a lot of damage due to rain,” says Ramsburg.

The company began harvesting this season with Wildfire Gala, an early strain of the Gala variety, and then it moved into Premier Honeycrisp. Typically for these early varieties, growers do multiple rounds of picking to let fruit color up and mature. What’s helping with that recently are nighttime temperatures into the 60-degree Fahrenheit range.

Varietal notes
Regular Gala will begin harvesting this week as will traditional Honeycrisp and Ginger Golds. Then, in September, Red and Golden Delicious and other varieties will begin harvest.

As for demand, it’s good with the season starting strong given buyers and consumers are looking for new crop apples. Once the pipeline gets filled towards the end of September and into October, demand could soften somewhat though it should stabilize getting into the holiday season.

Fall is usually an unsettled time in the apple market as the prior year’s crop ends and the fresh crop begins. “Working together with retailers to provide great tasting apples at a fair price to encourage repeat sales is the key,” Ramsburg says.

For more information:
Valerie Ramsburg
Rice Fruit Company
[email protected]
www.ricefruit.com