NYC Mayor Kills Cross-Dressing Groundhog... and City-funded Staten Island Zoo Covers It Up

The New York Post reports:

Mayor Bill de Blasio has groundhog blood on his hands!

A week after Hizzoner dropped Staten Island Chuck in front of a crowd of spectators on Feb. 2, the winter-weather prognosticator died of internal injuries — and then the coverup began, The Post has learned.

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, sources said Wednesday.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,” sources said.

She had fallen nearly 6 feet when the mayor lost his grip during the Groundhog Day photo op. Sources said her injuries were consistent with a fall.

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.

Of course, Groundhog Day is a based on a tourist-scam.

In 1887, Clymer H. Freas, city editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania came up with the idea of a "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club" as a way to promote his wayward city whose Indian name means "place of sand flies".

Story and ritual were heaped up, and it was claimed that "Punxsutawney Phil" was a groundhog that never died, and could predict the weather for six weeks in advance.

The scam came to its logical conclusion in December of 2004 when Congressman John Peterson (R-PA) managed to wheedle $100,000 in Federal funding for a "Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center" which was opened on Groundhog Day in 2006.

Will there now be an exhibit about the tragic ending of New York City's cross-dressing imposter groundhog?  Will it be noted that it "Chuck", aka "Charlotte", was killed by the Mayor, and that a months-long cover up ensued?  Will the exhibit follow the money?  Stay tuned!