Shubenacadie Sam, Lucy the Lobster see shadows, predict six more weeks of winter
Two well-known animals in Nova Scotia shared the same opinion Thursday after seeing their shadows, predicting six more weeks of winter.
Shubenacadie Sam emerged from her burrow to make her annual prediction just after at 8 a.m. Thursday at Shubenacadie Wildlife Park in Shubenacadie, N.S.
“Don’t put away your hat and mitts yet,” Sam said on Twitter after her prediction.
Sam also saw her shadow last year.
If Sam hadn’t seen her shadow, an early spring would be in store, according to folklore.
“Some people say it even goes back to 16th century Germany and a tradition of observing badgers and other wildlife,” said Dr. Andrew Morrison, a manager and veterinarian at Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, after Sam’s prediction.
“It’s just a matter of observing what happens in nature and sort of learning a few things from it.”
Shubenacadie Sam was joined by a much larger groundhog mascot, who danced and shivered in Thursday’s cold temperatures before the real Sam emerged from her home.
Sam slowly left her burrow’s door before scurrying over to about 50 park visitors watching by a nearby fence. Morrison estimates crowds would have been bigger if not for the frigid temperatures.
This year’s event was the first in-person Groundhog Day prediction at the park since 2019.
Sam’s prediction was confirmed within seconds before she went back in her burrow for a rest and a reward.
“She’s going back to bed. She’s gonna warm up and take the day off,” says Morrison, who adds that getting Sam set up for Groundhog Day is “a bit of a procedure.”
“(She) has to be warm … she has to be awake and come out and make sure she’s got a really good breakfast, does her stretches, and then she pops.”
Groundhogs are normally hibernating this time of year.
“Some time around now is when some of them will start to emerge from hibernation and they’ll pop out to take a look around and see how the weather’s going,” Morrison says.
“If the weather’s good, then they’re gonna stay out and start looking for food. If the weather’s cold, they’re gonna go back underground and sleep another few weeks.”
Sam is the first groundhog in North America to make a prediction, about an hour before other groundhogs in Ontario and the eastern United States.
LUCY THE LOBSTER
Lucy the Lobster also predicted six more weeks of winter after seeing her shadow Thursday morning.
Lucy crawled her way out of the ocean for her annual prediction in Barrington, N.S., which is considered the lobster capital of Canada.
It didn’t take long before the call was made official.
"It's official. She sees her shadow," said Alain Bossé, also known as The Kilted Chef, who helped Lucy with her prediction on Thursday.
Lucy's prediction is the first event to kick off the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl festival, which runs from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 on Nova Scotia’s South Shore.
Details on the festival can be found online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.