On this day in 2014, then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to participate in Groundhog Day celebrations by joining revelers gathered at the Staten Island Zoo to see its resident forecasting rodent's prediction. What transpired however turned into a murder investigation and a political scandal for de Blasio and the zoo.
Much like de Blasio failed to get a handle on crime in the Big Apple, he also failed to hold onto Staten Island Chuck, an innocent groundhog simply trying to do his one job: looking for a shadow.
Today is a national day of mourning.
— Bill de Blasio Killed a Groundhog (@CharlotteGHogg) February 2, 2022
You may say “Happy Groundhog Day” but I hope you know all we hear is “Remember when @BilldeBlasio murdered a groundhog and then got away with it and he now roams the streets of New York?”
We remember his crime. We remember it all too well. pic.twitter.com/VEfFkoxVIQ
After dropping — more like flinging, seemingly — the poor animal several feet onto the ground, things initially seemed to be alright. But, after suffering for seven days, the defenseless victim succumbed to injuries and was found dead inside an enclosure at the zoo.
A previous retelling of de Blasio's side of the story — Staten Island Chuck, of course, no longer being able to speak out — was as brazen as the crime itself:
I go there and it's seven in the morning, which means my motor skills are not at their best. I put on these gloves and they're like, "Here's a groundhog," I'm like, "What the f**k?" I'm like, "Don't you have a little more coaching to go with this or whatever?" It was idiocy. Why would you want an elected official to hold a groundhog? I don't know anything about holding groundhogs. So the whole thing is just insane. There's an original sin here. Don't hand someone a groundhog, right?
Perhaps the only thing more insane than murdering a groundhog on its eponymous day is the coverup that then ensued.
It took until September of 2014 for the truth to come out via the New York Post. "Staten Island Zoo officials went to great lengths to hide the death from the public — and keep secret the fact that 'Chuck' was actually 'Charlotte,' a female impostor," the Post reported.
"The stand-in was found dead in her enclosure at the Staten Island Zoo on Feb. 9 — and a necropsy determined she died from 'acute internal injuries'" sustained after being dropped by De Blasio.
"Instead of revealing the sad loss, the zoo — which gets nearly half of its $3.5 million in annual funding from the city — told the staff to keep the mayor’s office in the dark about the animal’s fate," launching the attempted coverup exposed by the Post. "They told only a few zoo supporters — but claimed that the groundhog had died of natural causes."
While it's often said that the coverup can be worse than the crime, it's clear that this is not such a case. Both are equally egregious acts. But now ten years later, and even though de Blasio is no longer in office, he remains seemingly unrepentant for his rodenticide:
It’s Groundhog Day, so of course I texted with former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio about that day he dropped Staten Island Chuck (RIP) pic.twitter.com/mrinoELxVt
— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) February 2, 2024