{"id":874739,"date":"2026-08-28T16:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T16:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874739\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T16:10:18","slug":"its-groundhog-day-at-london-hospitals-as-rodents-burrow-chew-wires-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874739\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Groundhog Day at London hospitals as rodents burrow, chew wires underground"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Amid an ongoing fraud investigation<\/a> and costly infrastructure problems<\/a>, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has a new \u2013 and much furrier \u2013 challenge on its hands: groundhogs.<\/p>\n

In a memo sent to staff, which was reviewed by CBC News, the centre\u2019s Support Services department said groundhogs have begun burrowing at multiple LHSC locations, such as Victoria Hospital, Children\u2019s Hospital and University Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGroundhogs have high potential to injure themselves and damage critical infrastructure at LHSC by burrowing through or chewing on systems like electrical networks,\u201d the email said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evidence of groundhogs started popping up within the last two weeks, said LHSC\u2019s director of facilities operations Chris Askew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had similar situations at a couple of our sites. It happens,\u201d Askew said. \u201cWe have large sites so nature does tend to find locations of where they want to create their homes and sometimes it\u2019s around our sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Askew said his main concern with groundhogs on the property is the risk of them interacting with the plumbing and electrical systems that run underneath the LHSC grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"VictoriaLondon Health Sciences Centre is monitoring groundhogs across its locations, including Victoria Hospital, Children’s Hospital and University Hospital. (Kendra Seguin\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they were to come in contact or connect with them, that can have an impact on our operations. We want to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen, and we also want to keep them safe at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for a groundhog to chew through a wire, according to Jared John Pineda, who works with Forest City Wildlife Removal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey chew through anything in their path,\u201d Pineda said. \u201cThey might also confuse an electrical wire for a root because they probably don\u2019t really know what an electrical wire is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GroundhogSome wildlife removal companies in London, Ont., say they are getting more calls about groundhogs. (Submitted by Jared John Pineda)<\/p>\n

The hospital is working with an external wildlife removal company to relocate the groundhogs with traps, Askew said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing this for the safety of the groundhog as well as everybody else,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The memo sent to staff specifies Abell Pest Control is relocating the animals. The company was not available for an interview before publication.<\/p>\n

Hospital grounds attractive to groundhogs<\/p>\n

While Askew did not specify the exact locations groundhogs were spotted, he said the animals tend to burrow in more isolated areas with less foot and vehicle traffic.<\/p>\n

Pineda said he typically encounters groundhogs in large fields on the outskirts of the city or in residential backyards. There, they are often digging underneath homeowners\u2019 porches, decks, sheds and gazebos, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GardenJared John Pineda with Forest City Wildlife Removal says groundhogs are typically drawn to areas with good soil, plenty of plants and safety from predators. He said the Victoria Hospital grounds could be a good location for them. (Kendra Seguin\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives them a place to hide where they\u2019re not being hunted by predators,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Groundhogs are likely attracted to LHSC properties for the same reason, in addition to the soft soil and maintained greenery around the buildings, Pineda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of shrubs and gardens that they have around the hospital. It gives them a nice little place to hang out and eat food,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearby construction<\/a> at the intersection of Wellington and Commissioners may have also pushed groundhogs further into the Victoria and Children\u2019s hospital grounds, Pineda added.<\/p>\n

Groundhog calls on the rise<\/p>\n

Both Pineda and Professional Wildlife Removal owner Patrick Blewett said they are receiving more groundhog-related calls in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blewett said it\u2019s not necessarily that there are more groundhogs, but that the rodents are living differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the city grows and a lot of farmland around the city is now being developed into houses, the groundhogs aren\u2019t actually going anywhere. They\u2019re starting to live and adapt to the urban environment,\u201d Blewett said. \u201cWhen they used to just live in tunnels under the ground, a lot of them are now utilizing structures as protective spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

A file photo shows a groundhog burrow. (Tom Steepe\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Blewett said it \u2019s unlikely that burrowing groundhogs are capable of damaging the structural integrity of large-scale buildings at LHSC, but it is a risk for homeowners with groundhogs in their own backyards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a groundhog is digging and creating tunnel systems, they\u2019re excavating. Anywhere that dirt is displaced, then potentially all the surrounding dirt could start to cave in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blewett and Pineda both advise reaching out to a reputable wildlife removal company if groundhogs are causing damage to property. Otherwise, they recommend enjoying them from afar.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust be respectful and observe it. They\u2019re pretty mild creatures,\u201d Blewett said. \u201cThey\u2019re not interested in attacking. They\u2019re just interested in doing their thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-874739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}