In a letter to Tom Dunkel, president of The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk used puns to emphasize the organization's request. She wrote that allowing Phil to retire and be replaced by the cake "would allow you to still make tourism dough while showing Phil a slice of decency."

PETA announced that it has offered the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club a free vegan cake every year if it allows Punxsutawney Phil to retire.

PETA has suggested that Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who predicts whether winter will go on for six more weeks or spring will arrive early, should be replaced with a vegan 'weather reveal' cake on Groundhog Day.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, suggested that Groundhog Day be celebrated with a “weather cake” instead of pulling Punxsutawney Phil from his burrow to determine if winter will be prolonged or if spring will come early.

Groundhog Day – the annual tradition where a groggy rodent is yanked from its burrow to predict the weather – might be due for a makeover. At least, if PETA has anything to say about it. Their latest proposal?

Groundhog Day takes place every year in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where the resident groundhog makes his prediction on the remaining winter.

Image via Shutterstock You got to be kidding me, right? PETA wants to get rid of Groundhog's Day, the iconic Punxsutawney Phil, and replace both with a vegan sandwich. The activist organization is calling for the end of Groundhog's Day in Pennsylvania.

This year's Groundhog Day could look a little different than prior years. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has issued a statement saying the Punxsutawney Phil should be replaced with a "vegan cake.

In a statement, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk also called for ... Thousands of observers flock to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, every year on Feb. 2 to see Phil predict the weather.