Rest in Power, Flaco
Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl, takes flight in Central Park. c/o Sheryl Checkman (IG: @sherylcheckman)
It’s been over two weeks since the tragic passing of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl (EEO) who spent over a year flying free above the streets of New York after leaving his vandalized enclosure in the Central Park Zoo. Eurasian eagle-owls are not native to North America; however, they are fascinating! According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, EOOs can weigh almost nine pounds with a wingspan of over six feet - making them one of the world’s largest owls.
To put this in perspective, the heaviest great horned owls (one of North America’s largest owls) weigh less than six pounds. Thanks to the folks at Eyes on Owls, I was lucky enough to meet a female EEO last week. The box they use to transport her is at least three feet tall. As you look at these images, focus on Flaco’s feet! Formidable, no? These birds have evolved over millions of years to thrive as top predators in their forest homes. These are massive and, frankly, intimidating birds. Moreover, something about their fiery orange eyes makes them easy to place in my imagination's deepest, darkest forests.
Flaco on a pedestal. c/o Sheryl Checkman (IG: @sherylcheckman)
On February 23, the New York Times (NYT) reported that the owl, who had spent the previous 13 years of his life in captivity, died after apparently striking a building on New York’s Upper West Side. Building residents contacted the Wild Bird Fund, a wildlife rescue organization, who responded quickly, retrieved Flaco’s body, and transported him to the Bronx Zoo.
The Zoo intends to perform a necropsy on Flaco to determine the cause of death. The Wildlife Conservation Society manages both the Bronx and Central Park Zoos. We eagerly await the results, as they might be able to shed some light on what role, if any, rodenticides may have played in Flaco’s untimely demise.
Flaco makes a face for Pyul Horbelt (IG: @gobluebirder)
Flaco’s death is heartrending. It’s also hard to escape a sense of inevitability under the circumstances. Many wildlife advocates warned that the odds were stacked against Flaco outside captivity. In a 2023 article, the NYT quoted Scott Wiedensaul, leader of Project SNOWstorm and author of the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls, saying, “I frankly find the whole situation unfortunate. It’s really just a matter of time before something bad happens.” In the same article, the Times explicitly mentioned rodenticides as the most significant threat to Flaco’s survival.
The statement may prove prescient, given New York City’s toxic relationship with rodenticides. In 2022, City agencies applied more than 37 tons of rodenticides—a more than 20 percent increase over 2021 and an 85 percent increase over 2020. The result: City health inspectors reported over 60,000 instances of rodent activity in 2022, more than double the amount in 2021 (approximately 30,000) and quadruple the amount in 2020 (approximately 15,000).
These data suggest that Flaco likely consumed several poisoned rats over the past year. Given the staggering amount of rodenticides in Flaco’s orbit, it’s surprising that he lasted as long as he did. Indeed, one poisoned rat was enough to wipe out almost an entire family of great horned owls on Cape Code in 2021. Laura Kiesel, the founder of Save Arlington Wildlife, shared a post on Facebook the morning after Flaco’s death. She remembered the case of ‘Barry,’ a barred owl living in Central Park who died in 2021 after being struck by a maintenance truck.
Barry’s necropsy revealed staggering levels of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs), including Bromadiolone and Difethialone, in her tissues. According to Kiesel, Central Park and the NYC Parks system justified using SGARs on Park Property. In one conversation, an official told her that Bromadiolone was “a ‘low toxic’ SGAR.” Unfortunately, ‘low toxic’ SGARs do not exist.
I would not be surprised if Flaco’s necropsy produces similar results. Going forward, we can use Flaco’s death as motivation to work harder to protect the many wild animals threatened by SGARs in our community.
Want to learn how you can protect Plymouth’s natural heritage from rodenticides? Email us at rescueplymouthwildlife@gmail.com.
