Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl whose escape from the Central Park Zoo and subsequent life on the loose in Manhattan captured the general public’s consideration, died Friday night time after apparently putting a constructing on the Higher West Facet, officers stated.
The Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the zoo, stated in an announcement that Flaco had been discovered on the bottom after hitting a constructing on West 89th Road.
Constructing residents contacted the Wild Chicken Fund, a rescue group, whose workers members responded rapidly, retrieved him and declared him lifeless a short while later, the society stated.
Zoo staff took him to the Bronx Zoo, the place a necropsy will probably be carried out to find out the reason for dying. He would have turned 14 subsequent month.
Flaco’s yr as a free fowl started on the evening of Feb. 2, 2023, when somebody shredded the mesh on the modest enclosure the place he had lived almost his whole life. The police stated in January that no arrests had been made and that the investigation was persevering with.
“The vandal who damaged Flaco’s exhibit jeopardized the safety of the bird and is ultimately responsible for his death,” the Wildlife Conservation Society stated in its assertion. “We are still hopeful that the N.Y.P.D., which is investigating the vandalism, will ultimately make an arrest.”
Flaco started attracting a passionate fan base virtually as quickly as he confirmed up on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk the night time he was set unfastened. He appeared misplaced, with cops standing close by and Bergdorf Goodman a brief flight away. He quickly settled in Central Park.
As the times handed and he remained free, the query of whether or not he may survive exterior the zoo after a lifetime there turned his plight into an underdog’s story. When he confirmed that he may endure, he grew to become a feathered feel-good determine in troubled instances, with fowl watchers, ornithologists and on a regular basis New Yorkers following in him particular person or, in lots of circumstances, monitoring his exploits on-line.
However every day exterior captivity was dangerous — even with out the hazards offered by an city setting. Wild Eurasian eagle-owls can stay greater than 40 years in captivity, however solely 20 on common of their pure habitat.
Placing a constructing, particularly a window, was one a number of deadly threats he confronted. Others included dying by poisoning through the rodenticide within the rats that he ate, and a deadly collision with a automobile.
For greater than a yr, although, Flaco proved immune.
He was capable of keep away from automobiles by sticking largely to rooftops, water towers and different elevated components of the constructed setting after leaving Central Park round early November. However the danger that he could be killed in a constructing strike was nice: As many as 230,000 birds a yr die in New York Metropolis once they hit home windows, in accordance with the Nationwide Audubon Society.
David Lei, who, together with his accomplice, Jacqueline Emery, has adopted and photographed Flaco since his escape, stated in an e mail that he and Ms. Emery had been “sad beyond words but holding onto all our fond memories of him.”
It is a growing story. It is going to be up to date.
