Staten Island Chuck Prepares For Virtual Groundhog Day 2022

New York City NY

01 February, 2022

10:54 AM

Description

STATEN ISLAND, NY — A furry Staten Island forecaster this week will either cast a glum shadow over New York City or become a harbinger of spring. Staten Island Chuck will emerge from his burrow at the zoo Wednesday morning to search for the shadow which, if spotted, means six more weeks of winter, in accordance with Groundhog Day lore. But if that shadow stays away, then the spring is on its way. The Staten Island Zoo used to invite crowds of New Yorkers to watch Chuck's search, but this year's event will be live-streamed on Facebook at 7:20 a.m., according to a social media alert. Zoo organizers promised a very special honorary guest which might be — if tradition holds — the New York City Mayor. This could be good news or bad for Chuck. Chuck took a bite out of then Mayor Michael Bloomberg's finger in 2009 and two years later the then-Hizzoner was caught on video calling him a "son of a b--ch." In 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped a stand-in named Charlotte — who died a week later in her cage after suffering internal injuries — and de Blasio vowed never to return. One New Yorker spread waves of alarm Tuesday when she — jokingly — tweeted de Blasio would be Wednesday's special guest there to announce a campaign to represent Staten Island in the U.S. Congress. "The seconds it took for me to realize this was a joke were painful," replied Whitney Hu. Begged Max Burns, "u gotta stop this." (Reply? "i thrive on chaos, max.") It remains unclear if that honorary attendee will be the traditional choice of Mayor Eric Adams, who has his own complicated history with the animals of New York City. He made headlines in 2019 for promising an end to the city's rodent problem with what appeared to be boozy dead rat soup.