Flaco, the escaped Central Park Zoo owl, proving he can survive outside

February 22, 2023 4:26 AM

Flaco, the escaped Central Park Zoo owl, proving he can survive outside enclosure. When he first escaped from his vandalized enclosure at New York City's Central Park Zoo, handlers of Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl, doubted he could survive on his own.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (26 comments total)

Well, a little late, I know, but I would think Flaco qualifies as a Superb Owl.
posted by evilDoug at 4:59 AM on February 22, 2023 [40 favorites]

There is a possible future out there, with a lot less cars in it, where our cities are alive with birds of prey and rats and pigeons are a problem that are solving themselves.
posted by mhoye at 5:51 AM on February 22, 2023 [7 favorites]

(Most) Raptors are so much easier to rehabilitate and reintroduce to the wild than birds like cranes and geese, because most of them don’t really care about humans and their hunting behavior is genetically encoded. To raise wild peregrine falcons, you stick chicks from a captive bird on a ledge of a cliff (or building) and then just feed them until one day they fly off to do falcon things(this is called hacking).

Whooping cranes on the other hand, have to raised with crane puppets and not even hear a human voice in the egg or they will imprint on it. They have to be taught to migrate, everything. All with puppets. Huge, massive expense, high rates of failure.

Flaco is more conditioned to humans than is probably safe for him long term, but from a flying and eating rats and just being an owl, he’s probably fine.
posted by rockindata at 5:53 AM on February 22, 2023 [12 favorites]

There is a possible future out there, with a lot less cars in it, where our cities are alive with birds of prey and rats and pigeons are a problem that are solving themselves.

Yeah, but I'm not super excited about experiencing what would have to transpire for this to become a reality.
posted by Optamystic at 6:05 AM on February 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

They "doubted he could survive on his own"? C'mon, this is New York City. Flaco's father is the first owl vice president at Goldman Sachs, his mother's an editor at Condé Nast's Urban Raptor, they're both big donors to the Central Park Conservancy, and the branch is rent-controlled, passed down semi-illegally from his grandmother.
posted by PlusDistance at 6:09 AM on February 22, 2023 [42 favorites]

Does the quest to capture Flaco have an end date? Is there a clock ticking down to the point when he suddenly turns into a wild animal just doing its thing in the urban jungle? AFAICT the only thing missing is an opportunity for him to find a mate.
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:17 AM on February 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

We all want Flaco to be happy, but the odds that he dies of eating too many poisoned rats or collides with a park vehicle after dark are just tragically high. We all remember what happened to Barry, too. So this story just...makes me sad.
posted by praemunire at 7:45 AM on February 22, 2023 [12 favorites]

I was very happy about this story! For the zoo to doubt that he'd be okay to him being great? Nothing sad about that. He gained freedom.

Enjoy those fat rats, Flacco!
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:34 AM on February 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

New Yorkers are always gung ho about raptors eating rats until they also start hunting little rat dogs.
posted by emjaybee at 9:01 AM on February 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

I can't be the only one who misread the owl's name and started humming "Der Kommissar". Followed by...

Rock me, rock me, rock me, rock me
Rock me, Eagle Owl
Do it, do it
Rock me all the time to the top
posted by rory at 11:50 AM on February 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

While it's true that like many a raptor in NYC he'll likely eventually build up enough rat poison to kill him, having seen the tiny enclosure he was being kept in, I think I'm okay with a shorter life outside then putting him back in an 8 by 8 cell where he can't even fly. And I'm not particularly anti-zoo.
posted by tavella at 12:50 PM on February 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

He's been waiting a long time to deliver a very overdue message to Draco Malfoy (the non-canon version, of course), and he's building up his strength for the transatlantic flight.
posted by amtho at 1:17 PM on February 22, 2023

I'm extremely anti-zoo and fairly certain an animal rights individual cut the screen on his tiny cage. Animals are not ours to imprison and gawk at. A zoo is not a sanctuary.
posted by mygraycatbongo at 1:23 PM on February 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

This illustrated Defector* story, Oh No! The Big, Beautiful Owl Got Out was the first I had heard of about Flaco. It is perfect.

*Note, Defector does have a soft paywall at a certain number of stories. But even if you don't care so much about sports, the subscription is worth it for Birdfector.
posted by thatquietgirl at 1:37 PM on February 22, 2023 [8 favorites]

This is a much better birdwatching-in-Central-Park story than the last one I remember.
posted by hypnogogue at 2:03 PM on February 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

The English language is the only language to give this animal a respectable name. May I present to you:
* Bubo bubo
* Oehoe
* Uhu
* Grand-duc d'Europe
posted by groda at 3:40 PM on February 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Fi! Grand-duc d'Europe is a great name!
posted by tavella at 3:46 PM on February 22, 2023

Bubo bubo Linneaus was just not that creative. The first owl he saw in Sweden in 1758, he named it Bubo bubo (owl owl in Latin), and then all the other European owls were just added to the Bubo genus.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:25 PM on February 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

Eurasian eagle owls are really impressive predators. They are huge. I worry about him getting too much rat poison in his system. That is a miserable death.

People who vandalize zoos think they are doing the animals a favor. They are not doing the animals a favor.

Animals who get loose are at risk, especially animals who did not evolve on our continent. If it’s a large predator, or at all dangerous to humans, even an American large predator like a grizzly bear, it’s likely to be shot to prevent harm to humans.

If it’s a delicate tropical animal like a cotton top
tamarin, it may die, probably in misery, because our climate is not good for them. In the zoo, they have climate control, the correct diet, vaccinations, all veterinary care. No one is hunting or hurting them.

Zoos have saved quite a few species from extinction. Przewalski’s horse, American bison, scimitar horned oryx, Atwater’s prairie chicken to name a few. Instead of being mad at zoos, maybe go after poachers and trophy hunters.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:26 PM on February 22, 2023 [8 favorites]

I am very mad at the poachers. I am also mad at the zoos which keep flying animals in 8x8 cages.
posted by gakiko at 4:15 AM on February 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

Flaco was hungry. Hehe
posted by xtian at 5:56 AM on February 23, 2023

There is a possible future out there, with a lot less cars in it, where our cities are alive with birds of prey and rats and pigeons are a problem that are solving themselves.

This isn’t giving rats enough credit, I think, since they predate cars by quite a bit.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:04 AM on February 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

I hope flaco can find a mate somehow.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:05 AM on February 23, 2023

Also, the Wikipedia photo is perfect.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:07 AM on February 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

Well, a little late, I know, but I would think Flaco qualifies as a Superb Owl.

I don't know whether Flaco qualifies as superb or not (though I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt) but his publicist is certainly top notch. A week ago I hadn't heard of him, the other night he showed up as an answer in a crossword puzzle, and today he's on the front page of Metafilter. That's impressive.

Not quite as impressive as it might have been, alas. I'll admit my first guess at the three-letter crossword puzzle was wrong but how many birds large enough to be zoo specimens plausibly fit into three letters? Anyway, it's not Flaco's fault that I can't help but be a bit disappointed that it's not an escaped emu going native in Central Park.
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:11 PM on February 23, 2023

I hope flaco can find a mate somehow.

European eagle owls have apparently successfully hybridized with great horned owls. It's probably a bit late for this year as great horned owls tend to mate really early in the year, but if Flaco remains uncaptured through next January, who knows?
posted by mollweide at 5:31 PM on February 23, 2023 [1 favorite]