Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl at the Central Park Zoo, went missing after his exhibit’s mesh was cut on February 2, 2023. For the next year he lived outside the zoo, hunting in Central Park and drawing the attention of birders and residents. He died on February 23, 2024, after an apparent collision with a Manhattan building. Postmortem testing also found serious illness and rodenticide exposure, complicating any account that treats the collision alone as the cause.
What happened to Flaco the owl?
The Central Park Zoo reported that Flaco was discovered missing from his exhibit on the evening of February 2, 2023, and that the stainless-steel mesh had been cut. According to the zoo, citizens and police saw him on Fifth Avenue; he then flew away. Staff later located him in a tree and watched him fly into Central Park. At the time, the zoo said, “Our focus and effort at this time is on the safe recovery of the owl.” Central Park Zoo’s escape statement
In a February 12 update, the zoo reported that Flaco had been hunting, catching, and eating prey, and that his flight and maneuvering had improved. Staff said they would monitor him less intensely while continuing to look for an opportunity to recover him. That update marked a shift from the immediate search to observation of an owl learning to live outside his exhibit. Central Park Zoo’s February 12 update
Who freed Flaco?
The exhibit was vandalized, but the person responsible was not publicly identified in the reporting available a year later. The Associated Press reported in February 2024 that the investigation remained unresolved, with no suspect information released. Explanations for why the mesh was cut remain speculation; there is no established identity or motive to report. Associated Press report on the unresolved investigation
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Why did Flaco become a public story?
Flaco’s life in Manhattan held a tension people interpreted differently. For birders, following him became an act of attention to a remarkable wild animal in the city. Naaman Zhou’s account in The New Yorker describes birders using long lenses and other equipment to watch him, and people gathering at a Central Park oak tree with flowers after his death. The scenes convey a visible attachment, but the account does not establish a reliable count of how many people followed him. Naaman Zhou in The New Yorker
For the zoo, the escape began with damage that put Flaco’s safety at risk. In its February 2024 statement, the zoo said, “The vandal who damaged Flaco’s exhibit jeopardized the safety of the bird and is ultimately responsible for his death.” That is the zoo’s position on responsibility; it should not be mistaken for a definitive account of every factor in his death. Others could see meaning in his time outside captivity, but that interpretation cannot establish what Flaco would have wanted.
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How did Flaco die?
WCS announced that Flaco died on February 23, 2024, after an apparent collision with a building on West 89th Street. The Wild Bird Fund responded and declared him dead; WCS staff transported him to the Bronx Zoo for a necropsy. WCS’s death announcement
Testing found acute trauma, severe pigeon herpesvirus, and exposure to four anticoagulant rodenticides. WCS said the infection and rodenticide exposure would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal even without the traumatic injury, and may have predisposed him to fly into or fall from the building. The findings therefore point to more than a collision alone: they describe trauma alongside underlying conditions that were themselves life-threatening. WCS’s necropsy statement
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What happened to Flaco’s remains?
WCS later said Flaco’s wings and tissue samples were transferred to the American Museum of Natural History for its scientific collection. They are not slated to be on public view. WCS statement on the transfer
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