AP New York
NY
Updated Saturday, February 24, 2024-22:34
Tributes poured in on Saturday for Flaco, the endearing Eurasian eagle owl who became
New York's most moving story
after escaping his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo and
flying free through Manhattan.
Flaco was
found dead on a New York sidewalk on Friday
night after apparently crashing into a building.
It was a heartbreaking end for the birdwatchers who documented the owl's daily movements and for the legions of admirers who eagerly followed him.
"Everyone feels the same, they are devastated," said
Nicole Blair,
a New York artist who dedicated much of her posts on the X platform to photos and memes featuring the famous owl with black and brown feathers and round brown eyes. of the sunset.
Staff at the Wild Bird Fund, a wildlife rehabilitation center, pronounced Flaco dead shortly after the collision.
An autopsy was expected Saturday.
Flaco was freed from his cage at the zoo a little over a year ago by a vandal who breached a waist-high fence and ripped a hole in the steel mesh cage.
The owl had arrived at the zoo as a chick 13 years ago.
Flaco sightings soon became sport.
The owl spent its days perched on tree branches, fence posts, and fire escapes,
and its nights hooting atop water tanks and hunting the city's abundant rats.
Like a true celebrity, the owl appeared on murals and merchandise.
His image took up a spot on Blair's themed Christmas tree, right next to "Pizza Rat," the infamous rodent seen in a YouTube video dragging a slice of pizza down the subway stairs.