My Magnolia grandifloras are NEVER eaten by deer, so may assume it is safe from a groundhog. I am assuming your M. virginiana (sweetbay) would also be safe.

Last thing groundhogs would eat is a magnolia

You NEED to report the incident ASAP. Groundhogs snarling at someone, rabies is what I would think right away, even if not, better safe than sorry. Pranksta, please report it. Some kid may get bitten, and never think to mention it, and then die from rabies.

Poaky1 - I have groundhogs living near my home and, trust me on this, if a child is ever bitten by one the last thing they will worry about is not telling someone. Those things have some crazy big chompers.

Topeka Tony, I know it sounds stupid that a little kid won't tell anyone they were bitten, but I just wanted to stress the importance of reporting it. There was a death reported locally in SE Pa, a cat bit someone and they never reported it and died of rabies. Most would freak out, but I guess they figured the cat was wild, never thinking of rabies. I would report it even if it was a cat. I guess some don't like hospitals, and don't think a bite is serious.

Thanks...scary stuff.

It is NOT normal for a groundhog to be aggressive toward a human. They usually cut and run the other way. I happened on one once in our front gardens, and it chased me. Thank GOD the front door was unlocked and I beat it in. It tried to come through the screen at me. We dispatched it immediately with a shotgun and buried it deep. When I recounted the experience to our vet, he also suggested it was rabid and we did the right thing. I was just discussing this a couple weeks ago, and read that groundhog rabies is not unusual in areas where racoon rabies is endemic. No, they don't eat sweetbay btw.

"It is NOT normal for a groundhog to be aggressive toward a human."

True, but years ago my family had one take a very aggressive stand versus both our dog and us. I literally hit the thing in the head with shovel and it would not budge. Later that day it bit our dog. We were sure it had rabies, the Fairfax County animal control officer came out and shot it and sent the brain in for examination. Did not have rabies, it was just ornery! He had dug a hole in our front shrubbery and was not going to move out on our accord. Small caliber rifle shot changed his mind...literally.

I could understand that if it were protecting its burrows and maybe had young. Certainly it would consider a dog a potential predator and be defensive. I think any animal could be aggressive in those circumstances. I even provoked a possum once to aggression and that ain't easy. LOL. I took the original post to suggest the critter was not cornered in any way or provoked and still warned the human. Hard to tell the circumstances, most will do strange things if frightened. It does behoove people who confront out of the ordinary actions in any wild creature to protect themselves from bites. It ALWAYS means the death of the creature for testing, if you can catch it, or generally extremely expensive prophylaxis with rabies shots if you can't. It's why I always get my domestic pets (inside or out) vaccinated. Best to just leave wild critters unmolested and alone for their good and your own.

I found a dead possum in my front yard in early May, and I bet my dog killed it, thank god she is current on rabies shots. I guess if a kid met up with a groundhog that would be different from a cat anyway, blonde moment, I am blonde, so I can say that. Although from a bottle.

I'm not understanding the 'report it' suggestion. To whom? I am rural and we most generally either avoid or take care of situations like that but do people who run into this sort of situation in cities report it and does someone investigate or something?

Sometimes on the news they report a rabies story, then they say how many cases of rabies have been reported in the year so far. My vet has a chart showing how many cases in each county, so there is some entity (for lack of a better word) who keeps track. Maybe the CDC? Center for disease control. I just looked it up and CDC is listed as the entity or peeps to call. They want to know where these cases are happening.

Poaky - I live on 40 acres in the country, if I called the nearest animal control or law enforcement I would probably get laughed at and sent a citation for wasting county resources. I grew up in the country around wild animals, I was taught to respect all wild animals (even if they look cute and fluffy) and to leave them alone. I regularly see deer, turkey, raccoon, coyote, snakes, red fox, groundhog, and the occasional bobcat around my place. 99 times out of 100 they turn and run, unless they have young to protect, at which time they generally stand and watch you. Either way, my family and I know not to fool with creatures in nature. I didn't mean to minimize the incident but where I live, "reporting it" isn't really an option. If we have an issue such as this at our home, davidrt28's solution is the preferred method of remediation.

Tony, I meant to report bites and strange acting mammals. I am sorry if I wasn't specific on what to report. I am rural too. There are woods and fields all around me. I have about 2.5 acres, not much compared to you, but all my neighbors have at least an acre or 2, some have several acres they rent out to farmers to grow crops on. I see just about everything here also. I meant bites and sick acting animals. If I called someone each time I saw a wild animal, they would laugh at me too. I think they want to know about rabid animal populations for a good reason. Maybe your area, if you are in the boonies want you to just shoot them? Hope I understood you right.