Carefree prairie dog rescued from Pennsylvania house fire

upi ^ | March 10, 2017 | Daniel Uria

[JoeProBono]

A pet prairie dog became a viral sensation for its carefree attitude after it was rescued from a house fire in Pennsylvania.

Red Paw Emergency Relief Team shared photos of Vern the prairie dog, one of three "dogs" rescued after a fire broke out in Montgomery County.

Vern captured the hearts of the group's Facebook followers with his relaxed facial expression as he lay next to one of his canine housemates with his belly exposed.

Volunteers from Red Paw Emergency Relief Team joined emergency crews at the scene of the fire to help rescue the pets and ensure they had a safe place to stay.

[JoeProBono]

[OldSmaj]

Vern looks to be just a leeeetle bit over fed.

In other words, I'm fat-shaming Vern.

Get up off your fat ass, Vern and help clean the place up.

[gundog]

Did Vern chew on any extension cords or knock over any candles to cause the fire?

[LouieFisk]

Awwww. Cute little fella.
But - “its carefree attitude”? What? Was it worried?

[JoeProBono]

[x]

Do we need the beaver shot?

[rdl6989]

It looks like a groundhog to me, due to the fat. Most photos of prairie dogs I’ve seen (never seen one in the wild) are much more skinny than that.

[JoeProBono]

[imardmd1]

"Prairiedawg"?? Looks like a woodchuck to me. Probably raised from a baby if its mother was shot for digging burrows in a farmer's hayfield. Or the nest turned over in spring plowing.

Didn't know Pennsylvania had . . . prairies.

[JoeProBono]

'Vern' The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog - VIDEO

[OldSmaj]

You always amaze me with the pictures you come up with.

You either have a an amazing recall ability for something you have seen at one time or another, or you've got the worlds best tuned Google Image library.

You've made me laugh more than once and I must admit I've stolen a pic or two from you.

Good on ya!

[JimRed]

Is it even legal to keep them?

[sodpoodle]

Prairie dogs AKA sod poodles;)

http://www.pbase.com/rbphilip/image/37418488

[Farmer Dean]

Vern reminds me of Bill the Cat.

[rdl6989]

Excellent!!!!!

[jjotto]

Heh heh

Prairie dogs apparently were once native to PA. I had no idea that they are somewhat popular as pets. They’ve got to be frightfully strong for their size.

They do look very much like the much larger woodchuck.

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[shelterguy]

It’s a woodchuck, Jim.

[jimbug]

That is not a prairie dog; it’s a groundhog (woodchuck). I live in Pa and have sent many of these critters to that big den in the sky at the request of several local farmers.