User blog comment:Happywolfpuppy/Groundhog/What Would You Do?/@comment-26510374-20170610043729

Perhaps go to your closest state park and free the groundhog if possible. This is what my family did after we caught a mouse in the sink. State parks are lovely in general, suggesting to go to one not only to free the groundhog but to walk around a bit would sway my mom enough.

Thousand Acres State Park is a twenty-five minute drive from my house. If I didn't have the option of the state park, I would try to find the nearest large park. A regular small park with a playground and open field wouldn't do for a groundhog, since it's bigger than a mouse and requires more space.

If going to a park is completely off the table, the best option imo would be to painlessly kill it. Releasing the groundhog somewhere in the neighborhood or in a garden would only harm the environment. This might ultimately end up killing the groundhog more painfully as well, by harmful plant pesticides, neighbor's dog, or whatever else you can think of.