Groundhog Charlotte's Death Stayed Secret

In 2014, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio accidentally dropped the groundhog presented as Staten Island Chuck during the Staten Island Zoo's Groundhog Day ceremony. The animal was actually a female stand-in named Charlotte, and zoo staff found her dead a week later with acute internal injuries. The injuries were consistent with a fall, although the zoo said it could not determine their exact cause and considered a connection to the ceremony unlikely. Zoo officials kept Charlotte's death from the public for months and initially told supporters that she had died from natural causes.

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