--- title: Groundhog Bites Ear of Minnesota Mayor: Video description: He is really not interested in predicting your weather canonical: https://time.com/3692943/groundhog-bites-mayor-ear-groundhog-day/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-02T22:31:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:16:28.331Z og:title: See the Moment When a Groundhog Bit a Mayor's Ear og:description: More like Gr-oww-ndhog Day og:url: https://time.com/3692943/groundhog-bites-mayor-ear-groundhog-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Moment When a Groundhog Bit a Mayor's Ear twitter:description: More like Gr-oww-ndhog Day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # See the Moment When a Groundhog Bit a Mayor's Ear  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 2, 2015 10:31 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 2, 2015 10:31 PM UTC On a nippy Groundhog Day in Sun Prairie, Wis., a groundhog nipped the city’s mayor on the ear. Per tradition, Jimmy the Groundhog had “whispered” his prognostication of an early spring into Mayor Jonathan Freund’s ear and “leaned into the Mayor’s ear to make sure the Mayor heard him correctly,” according to [a statement](http://www.cityofsunprairie.com/sites/default/files/files/020215%20Groundhog%20Day%20Press%20Release.pdf). WISC-TV [News 3](http://www.channel3000.com/weather/jimmy-the-groundhogs-forecast-debated/31046574) posted[ video](https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152620207797060&permPage=1) of the incident. “Let’s just say that Jimmy will always have my ear,” Freund wrote on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/mayorjonfreund/photos/a.1420823008188584.1073741829.1420406354896916/1534058043531746/?type=1). No word on whether, after the incident, he will experience six more weeks of pain. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3692943/groundhog-bites-mayor-ear-groundhog-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3692943/groundhog-bites-mayor-ear-groundhog-day/"},"headline":"See the Moment When a Groundhog Bit a Mayor's Ear","datePublished":"2015-02-02T22:31:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:16:28.331Z","description":"He is really not interested in predicting your weather","url":"https://time.com/3692943/groundhog-bites-mayor-ear-groundhog-day/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3692943/groundhog-bites-mayor-ear-groundhog-day/","name":"See the Moment When a Groundhog Bit a Mayor's Ear"}}]}] ```