Flaco, Owl Who Escaped From New York City Zoo, Dies

Flaco, an owl who turned a New York Metropolis icon after he flew the coop on the Central Park Zoo final 12 months, has died.

“We’re saddened to report that Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl found lacking from the Central Park Zoo after his exhibit was vandalized simply over a 12 months in the past, is useless after an obvious collision with a constructing on West 89th Road in Manhattan,” the Wildlife Conservation Society, a nonprofit that manages the zoo, stated in a press launch Friday.

Flaco appeared to have collided with a window, according to the Wild Bird Fund, a wildlife rehabilitation middle that tried to avoid wasting the owl after the accident.

“We hoped solely to see Flaco hooting wildly from the highest of our native water tower, by no means within the clinic,” the nonprofit wrote.

Hundreds of thousands of birds are estimated to die yearly by crashing into reflective glass home windows ― a cause that environmental teams advocate for utilizing bird-safe glass or taking different steps to discourage collisions.

In Flaco’s case, the Wild Hen Fund famous that it’s not but clear whether or not he was additionally affected by the consequences of rodenticide, which might construct up within the our bodies of predators that eat poisoned mice and rats. In 2021, a feminine owl named Barry was hit by a van in Central Park and was later discovered to have excessive ranges of rat poison in her system, which seemingly impaired her capability to fly.

Flaco left his zoo enclosure behind on Feb. 2 of final 12 months, after a still-unidentified individual reduce the mesh that had prevented him from flying away.

The owl had been born in captivity and arrived on the zoo as a fledgling. He remained there for 13 years earlier than escaping and taking on residence within the surrounding timber of Central Park.

Since he had by no means lived within the wild, his escape was instantly adopted by issues that he can be unable to hunt and will starve to loss of life. However because the zoo despatched out groups making an attempt to seize Flaco, the owl was noticed efficiently catching and consuming prey.

Flaco’s star was already on the rise, and public opinion started to skew towards a need to let him stay free. The chook’s fame was fueled by David Barrett, who runs the favored birding account Manhattan Bird Alert on X and would incessantly put up pictures of Flaco, in addition to info associated to his whereabouts.

Some others within the birding neighborhood argued that permitting a captive-raised, non-native animal to reside free was irresponsible, warning that Flaco was seemingly not cut out for all times on his own within the metropolis and expressing issues about possible impacts on native species.

Nonetheless, Flaco shortly turned a neighborhood movie star, with New Yorkers gleefully reporting sightings and sharing pictures of the majestic chook of prey in Central Park and, when he started to fly farther afield, among the many buildings of Manhattan.

New Yorkers and different devotees mourned his loss, sharing their favourite pictures and reminiscences of Flaco on social media.