See the continuing battle at Sign of the Shovel

So back to square one.  Well, today's New York Times piece  about a zoo-keeper who trains groundhogs for their February 2 media moment confirms that I was correct  first of all, in trying to foist off the job of trap-and-release on my spouse and second, in not running out myself and acquiring havaheart traps for the dears.  Here is how the zoo-keeper described the experience of training "Chuck":

“The patience involved is staggering,” Mr. Schwartz said. “He’s got a brain the size of a cashew, so you really don’t have much to work with.” And, he added: “They’re known for their aggression, so you’re starting from a hard place. His natural impulse is to kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out. You have to work to produce the sweet and cuddly.”