Story file

Flaco the Central Park owl legacy

The developments in this story so far, most recent first.

  1. · date approximate · Follow-up

    Documentary 'Wild Inside' Tracks Life of Escaped NYC Owl Flaco

  2. · date approximate · Background

    Flaco escaped from the Central Park Zoo after his enclosure mesh was cut.

    In February 2023, Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl escaped from the Central Park Zoo. Reports indicate that someone deliberately cut the mesh of his enclosure, allowing the bird to flee into the city.

  3. Date unknown · Background

    New York City Council approved Flaco's Law to replace rodenticides with contraceptives.

    No separate article for this desk or language yet.

  4. Date unknown · Background

    Flaco died after colliding with a building on West 89th Street.

    Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl, escaped from the Central Park Zoo in February 2023 after someone deliberately cut the mesh of his enclosure [1]. Zoo officials suspended efforts to recapture him after two weeks because he learned to hunt rats [8]. He survived as a free bird in Manhattan for over a year [2].

    Flaco died after crashing into a building on West 89th Street [3]. A necropsy found he had been weakened by pigeon herpes virus and had four kinds of anticoagulants common in rodenticide [4].