Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from New York Metropolis’s Central Park Zoo and have become one of many metropolis’s most beloved celebrities as he flew round Manhattan, has died, zoo officers introduced Friday.
Somewhat over one 12 months after he was freed from his cage on the zoo in a felony act that has but to be solved, Flaco seems to have collided with an Higher West Facet constructing, the zoo mentioned in an announcement.
“The vandal who damaged Flaco’s exhibit jeopardized the safety of the bird and is ultimately responsible for his death,” the assertion mentioned. “We are still hopeful that the NYPD which is investigating the vandalism will ultimately make an arrest.”
Employees from the Wild Fowl Fund, a wildlife rehabilitation middle, responded to the scene and declared Flaco useless shortly after the collision. He was taken to the Bronx Zoo for a necropsy.
“We hoped only to see Flaco hooting wildly from the top of our local water tower, never in the clinic,” the World Fowl Fund wrote in a put up on X, previously generally known as Twitter.
Flaco’s time within the sky started on Feb. 2, 2023, when somebody breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. As soon as inside, they minimize a gap by way of a metal mesh cage, releasing the owl that had arrived on the zoo as a fledgling 13 years earlier.
Because the zoo suspended efforts to re-capture Flaco in February 2023, there was no public details about the crime.
Till now, Flaco had defied the chances, thriving within the city jungle regardless of a lifetime in captivity. He grew to become one of many metropolis’s most beloved characters. By day he lounged in Manhattan’s courtyards and parks or perches on fireplace escapes. He spent his nights hooting atop water towers and preying on the town’s considerable rats.
He was recognized for turning up unexpectedly at New Yorkers’ home windows and was tracked across the Huge Apple by chicken watchers. His loss of life prompted an outpouring of grief on social media Friday evening.
One in all Flaco’s most devoted observers, David Barrett, instructed a brief memorial on the chicken’s favourite oak tree in Central Park.
There, fellow birders may “lay flowers, leave a note, or just be with others who loved Flaco,” Barrett wrote in a put up on X for the account Manhattan Fowl Alert, which documented the chicken’s whereabouts.
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Related Press Author Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed.
