Groundhog Day is Tuesday, which also happens to be the seven-year anniversary of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio famously dropping a groundhog at the Staten Island Zoo.
Each year, thousands of people gather Feb. 2 to watch and see if the groundhog will see its shadow and get scared and run into its burrow. According to tradition, if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, there will be an early spring. (RELATED: Punxsutawney Announces Extraordinary Measure For Famous Groundhog Day Celebration)
In 2014, the Staten Island Zoo’s Groundhog Day ceremony in New York took a bad turn.
The groundhog had just predicted six more weeks of winter when it fell several feet out of de Blasio’s hands, The Guardian reported at the time. The groundhog de Blasio was holding wasn’t Staten Island Chuck, the famous groundhog normally used for the ceremony, but was a stand-in named Charlotte.
Happy #Groundhog Day to everyone except Mayor Bill de Blasio who famously dropped & killed the Staten Island groundhog last year pic.twitter.com/UQdGZuG0KS
— Dr. Johnny (@drjohnny__) February 2, 2021
Charlotte was reportedly found dead in her enclosure Feb. 9, and sources told the New York Post that the animal died from “acute internal injuries” that were consistent with a fall.
A spokesman from the Staten Island Zoo disputed the report that the fall caused the groundhog’s death.
“It appears unlikely that the animal’s death is related to the events on Groundhog Day,” the spokesman told the New York Post.
The Stated Island Zoo reportedly did not tell de Blasio’s office about the animal’s death.
“We were unaware that Staten Island Chuck had passed but are sorry to hear of the loss,” the mayor’s office spokesperson Phil Walzak told the outlet.