What is PETA thinking?

I just read an article about Punxsutawny Phil and how PETA wants to replace him with a robot. WTF? here is the link to the article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_peta_punxsutawney_phil

Now I know know PETA's mission is admirable, but this is a bit much. I mean, what is the point? The groundhog is well treated, not abused and only put on public display once a year. Now if we sacrificed him to the gods after his display, depending on whether or not he performed as we liked, that would be different.

I have a suggestion though, lets replace all the PETA people with robots. that way they would not consume any animal products and we could shut them off when we don't want to hear from them, like now!