Pennsylvania cyclist chased by rabid groundhog

A cyclist in the United States had to use his bike to fend off a rabid groundhog that was chasing him, according to police in Pennsylvania.

The incident took place last Thursday in the state that is also home to Punxsutawney Phil, who achieved worldwide fame thanks to the 1995 film, Groundhog Day.

In a post on Facebook, York County’s Northeastern Regional Police said that the male cyclist had been riding his bike at Spring Forge Intermediate School “when he was chased by a rabid groundhog.”

It added that the rider “was able to defend himself by striking the animal with his bike,” and that an “animal control officer responded and took the groundhog.”

While government agency the Centers for Disease Control report that rabies, most commonly transmitted to humans by dogs, is fully preventable in humans, it adds that “more than 55,000 people, mostly in Africa and Asia, die from rabies every year -- a rate of one person every ten minutes.”

Groundhog Day – when the animal, also known as a woodchuck, is said to predict a longer winter or an early spring, depending on whether it sees its own shadow when it emerges from its burrow – is celebrated each year in a number of places across the United States.

The tradition originated among German settlers in the 19th century, and the largest such event is held in Punxsutawney – there’s some background here – although the film supposedly set there that brought the festival to world attention was actually shot in Woodstock, Illinois.

It takes place on 2 February each year – the day on which the weatherman played by Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day would wake up each morning to the accompaniment of Sonny & Cher’s I Got You Babe on the radio alarm clock.