Groundhogs are bad mothers

The groundhog from last year is back and living in our berry patch. A big fat fatty of a groundhog. It has not gotten into our garden yet which is very civilized, however everything we read says it could. If we were serious about our fencing we should have buried it at least 10" in the ground and then put a foot of chicken wire on the ground all around the perimeter.

We can sometimes see it eating our lawn and flowers from the kitchen window. The other day Ilana saw it in the back and decided to chase it with Alden's bo-staff. By the time she charged around the groundhog was in her burrow, however, a smaller groundhog was still on the lawn. The little guy panicked, charged Ilana, was bonked with the staff, expired, and was tossed in the back of the back yard. Very grim.

Ilana felt pretty bad about off-ing the little guy, but swears it rushed her. A couple days later I saw the big fat groundhog and I devised a plan. I took a plastic bin with me with the intention of capturing the critter. The crafty rodent spotted me however, and dove safely into her hole. I then noticed a small groundhog INSIDE THE GARDEN FENCE. It seems the small ones are able to smoosh themselves through the fencing without too much bother. The little guy tried to make it to the burrow, but I scooped him up in the bin and deposited him in a 50gal garbage can. I then had to decide what to do with him.
An hour or so later I spotted the mom in the backyard again and decided to try and capture her again. It was surprisingly similar to the first charge. I tried to sneak around, I was spotted by momma groundhog who ran for the hole. There was another small groundhog I scooped up and placed with his sibling. I decided to let the groundhog kids go in a forest a couple miles away. Note the carrot in the upper right corner I gave them in case they got hungry on the trip.
The mother is still at large (minus three of her babies) so I guess the saga will continue. Oh yes, and the little fellas ate the tops off of half our carrots before we captured them.