New York City’s Celebrity Owl Flaco Is No More

‘Flaco’, a Eurasian eagle owl who had escaped the Central Park Zoo, New York has died. According to the New York Times, the owl became a local celebrity after fleeing the Zoo after someone ripped off his mesh. Subsequently, he made Manhattan his new home. The night after making his getaway from the Central Park Zoo, Falco was spotted on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk, which led to his rise to fame.

Flaco reportedly died on February 23 after ‘striking’ a building on the Upper West Side. The Wildlife Conservation Society issued an official statement informing the public that Falco was found on the ground lifeless, prompting building residents to contact the Wild Bird Fund, which declared him dead.

As per the New York Post, the 4.1-pound celebrity bird suffered “substantial haemorrhage under the sternum and in the back of the body cavity around the liver,” according to the necropsy report.

The necropsy revealed that Flaco was in good physical shape and had caught prey despite having no hunting experience since joining the zoo as a fledgling 13 years ago. The owl weighed 1.89kg (4.1lb), which was only 2 per cent less than when he was last measured at the zoo, the necropsy report added.

After the news about his death went viral, Flaco’s fans quickly flooded social media with tributes and condolences. Manhattan Bird Alert shared a magnificent video of Falco on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “Listen to one of Flaco’s hooting sessions in Central Park’s North Woods. We always found his hoots reassuring, a way for him to make his presence and vitality known—and in recent months the only way to find him at night. Hoot on, Flaco!”

Another fan posted a series of photos from Falco’s memorial at 104th and East Drive, captioning it saying – “02/24/24 Today at Flaco’s Memorial on 104th and East Drive.”

“Before his untimely death, my mom (@doreenkassel) memorialized Flaco on one of her hand-painted ceramic pinch pots,” a third fan said.

“At Flaco’s Memorial! What a stunning photo of Flaco by JacquiUWS,” wrote another fan, lamenting Falco’s death.

New York Police are still looking for who let him out of his enclosure at Central Park Zoo a year ago.

Fans of Flaco, who heard him every night on the Upper West Side, reportedly claimed he had become quiet in the days leading up to his passing and speculated that he might have been unwell.