Flaco’s time in the sky began on February 2, 2023, when someone breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. Once inside, they cut a hole through a steel mesh cage, freeing the owl that had arrived at the zoo as a fledgling 13 years earlier.
Since the zoo suspended efforts to recapture Flaco in February 2023, there has been no public information about the crime.
Until now, Flaco had defied the odds, thriving in the urban jungle despite a lifetime in captivity. He became one of the city’s most beloved characters. By day he lounged in Manhattan’s courtyards and parks or perched on fire escapes. He spent his nights hooting atop water towers and preying on the city’s abundant rats.
He was known for turning up unexpectedly at New Yorkers’ windows and was tracked around the Big Apple by bird watchers. His death prompted an outpouring of grief on social media Friday night.
One of Flaco’s most dedicated observers, David Barrett, suggested a temporary memorial at the bird’s favourite oak tree in Central Park.
There, fellow birders could “lay flowers, leave a note, or just be with others who loved Flaco,” Barrett wrote in a post on X for the account Manhattan Bird Alert, which documented the bird’s whereabouts.
