NEW YORK — The Wildlife Conservation Society has released new details about what will be done with Flaco’s remains, the beloved Eurasian eagle owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo in 2023.
Flaco died in February after crashing into a building.
Where are Flaco’s remains?
According to the WCS, Flaco’s wings were sent to the American Museum of Natural History along with tissue samples. The association says they will become part of the museum’s scientific collection and will not be visible to the public.
The WCS says the museum’s collections are used by scientists and artists.
The rest of Flaco’s remains are archived at the Bronx Zoo’s Wildlife Health Center.
Jesse Singer
How did Flaco die?
Flaco escaped from his zoo exhibit on February 2, 2023, after someone cut the steel mesh of his enclosure.
The 13 year old owl evaded all attempts to capture him and spent a year flying freely around Manhattanbut at the end of February, Flaco was found unconscious after apparently crashing into a building on West 89th Street.
According to the WCS, post-mortem examination showed that not only did he suffer traumatic injuries from the collision, Flaco had four types of rat poison in his system and had contracted a severe case of “pigeon herpes virus” from eating wild pigeons.
“These factors would have been disabling and ultimately fatal even without traumatic injury, and could have predisposed him to flying or falling from the building,” the zoo wrote.
Since Flaco’s death, Members of the New York City Council introduced three bills known as “Flaco’s Laws.” who propose using rat birth control instead of poison to control the city’s rat population, and installing new lighting and windows with markings to reduce collisions between birds and buildings.
