The groundhog New York Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped in front of spectators in February died from internal injuries a week later, with the zoo going to great lengths to keep the animal’s death a secret, the New York Post has revealed.
A week after Mr. de Blasio dropped “Chuck” — who was actually a female impostor named “Charlotte” — the groundhog was found dead in her enclosure Feb. 9 at the Staten Island Zoo. A necropsy determined Charlotte died from “acute internal injuries,” sources told the Post.
Charlotte fell nearly 6 feet when the mayor dropped her on Feb. 2. Sources said her injuries were consistent with a fall, the Post reported. Zoo officials reportedly went to great lengths to keep the incident a secret, telling staff to keep the death and the Chuck-Charlotte switch from the public.
The zoo reportedly gets nearly half of its $3.5 million in annual funding from the city. It even kept the death a secret from the mayor himself.
“We were unaware that Staten Island Chuck had passed but are sorry to hear of the loss,” the mayor’s spokesman Phil Walzak told the Post.
The zoo plans to pull the same groundhog hoax next year, with Charlotte’s daughter, also named Charlotte, playing the role of Chuck. Chuck was axed this year out of fear that he would become aggressive, and the zoo never makes the switch public in order to protect the “groundhog brand,” insiders told the Post.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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