ZOO WON’T LET DE BLASIO HOLD GROUNDHOG AFTER HE KILLED ONE LAST YEAR

1/10/2015
By Emily Zanotti 


The NYPD isn't the only city organization that has lost complete confidence in the esteemed Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio.

After he dropped the groundhog during last year's Groundhog Day celebrations, the Staten Island Zoo has unequivocally banned De Blasio from holding or handling any more of their animals in a celebratory setting. 

Mayor de Blasio won’t be killing any more groundhogs — zoo handlers are forbidding the butter-fingered mayor from holding the critter at the annual shadow-sighting ceremony on Feb. 2, The Post has learned.
The ban came after The Post first revealed that the groundhog de Blasio fumbled and dropped last year died a week later of internal injuries — and then Staten Island Zoo officials covered up the death...
“No one will be allowed to touch the groundhog,” one zoo insider briefed on the new policy told The Post.

The Groundhog Day celebration actually has quite the history of controversy. Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was also denied the opportunity to cuddle the creature after a 2009 incident where "Staten Island Chuck" was unwilling to leave his comfortable hovel and bit Bloomberg on the finger when he tried to coax it out. In recent years it has also come to light that "Staten Island Chuck," widely reputed to be a male groundhog, was actually a female groundhog named "Charlotte."

This year, no one will touch the groundhog except for fully-authorized individuals. Instead, he (or she) will suffer through the ceremony comfortably encased in Plexiglass. 


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