Chunk the Groundhog

Organic gardener Jeff Permar first noticed that he had a visitor in his Delaware garden when he kept finding chunks bitten out of his vegetables. Frustrated, he set up a motion detection camera, and soon saw the culprit looking back at him through the lens; a groundhog would pop up into the picture while chomping on something. As Permar puts it, “when Chunk eats our garden veggies he loves to throw it in our face!!”

“Chunk plops himself right in front of the camera every time and devours our produce!! He even has the nerve to stare right into the camera like a boss!”

Permar and his family became fond of the visitor. They call him Chunk for the chunks he first bit out of the garden veggies, and soon, Permar dedicated a YouTube channel to the groundhog’s visits. He writes:

“We were absolutely shocked how amazing he was! He has since earned his right to enjoy all the veggies he wants!”

Soon, Chunk was joined by a groundhog that Permar calls Nibbles. The 2019 video above is a compilation of Chunk and Nibble’s memorable meals from that first year.

Since then, Permar has watched them raise three baby groundhogs. In a 2023 video, he reflects, “What I’ve taken away most from this experience is the fact that we need to coexist with wildlife.”

“They’re just like us in a lot of ways, seeing this footage of them just eating, trying to survive. You know, they have families too. They’re just trying to make it. So what I’ve learned is that, you know, give them a little bit of assistance. After all, it is their garden too. You know, it’s their land too.”

Find Chunk the Groundhog on YouTube and Instagram.

Then watch more animals eating on TKSST, including:
• Want to see a quokka eat a leaf?
• Pipkin the rabbit eats crunchy celery
• X-ray video of how hamsters fit food in their cheek pouches
• Camels vs. Cactus: Eating a prickly pear cactus with 6-inch needles
• Hippos eating watermelons at Nagasaki Biopark

Bonus: The Burrowing Owl’s Cozy Underground Home.

Thanks, Seb.