https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVstxj5rCXQ
He’s got some chunk in his trunk.
A hungry, hungry groundhog has been caught on camera chowing down in a Delaware man’s garden — and he’s turned it into a viral YouTube series.
Jeff Permar began recording footage of the curious garden muncher, named Chunk, nibbling on tomatoes, carrots and other vegetables back in 2019, racking up thousands of views and, now, more than 133,000 subscribers.
Permar, 49, installed motion-activated cameras to catch the furry culprit who had been raiding his garden, only to find Chunk — aptly named due to taking literal chunks out of Permar’s produce — feasting on the carefully cultivated spread of veg.
“I was upset at first so I set up a motion detection camera,” the avid gardener of more than 20 years told The Post.
“Then while I was at work I got a notification on my phone and out pops up this groundhog and it was the cutest thing ever, staring into the camera, through your soul with so much swagger,” explained Permar, who was amazed by the garden squatter.
Now, he has 10 cameras around his property to film the cute critter who has “earned his right to enjoy all the veggies he wants,” Permar wrote on YouTube.
The clips, essentially an ASMR-heavy mukbang of a rodent loudly chomping on various veggies, show Chunk with an ironclad grip on each piece of produce against the sounds of his long, sharp teeth gnawing at the carrots, tomatoes, broccoli and corn.
Now, Permar is no longer a gardener providing for his family and friends — he’s become “a coexisting caretaker of a groundhog.”
Within the first year, Chunk wooed a lady groundhog, now named Nibbles, and made them parents to some “baby Chunks,” who make guest appearances in Permar’s footage.
Now, the happy, furry family are proudly known as “The Chunks,” complete with a placard above their makeshift picnic table on Permar’s lawn and their very own garden.
Permar said it’s “a hoot to watch” the lovable rodents when they dine or play together in the yard, noting that his footage also serves an “educational” purpose by showing their burrows.
According to Permar, wildlife experts have estimated that Chunk was 2 years old when he set up shop on Permar’s land. Based on the supposed age of Chunk, he would now be about 5.
Since happily hosting the family of groundhogs, Permar has provided produce from the supermarket to feed them when his own garden isn’t enough to sustain the creatures’ appetites.
He never expected Chunk’s fame to soar like it has — one day, gifts for the viral woodchucks began showing up on Permar’s doorstep. The Chunks’ picnic table, he said, was gifted by a woman who makes miniature tables.
“I think people enjoy it because it makes them feel good and makes them laugh,” he said.
In fact, he “plops himself right in front of the camera” whenever he dines, and “even has the nerve to stare right into the camera like a boss.”
But Permar isn’t bothered by Chunk’s residence or his family, despite their rent-free stay on his land.
“This is his land too I just put a garden on it!” Permar wrote. “So munch away.”