Celebrity owl Flaco dies a year after New York City zoo escape

A little over one year after he was freed from his cage at the zoo in a criminal act that has yet to be solved, Flaco appears to have collided with an Upper West Side building, the zoo said in a statement.

"The vandal who damaged Flaco's exhibit jeopardized the safety of the bird and is ultimately responsible for his death," the statement said. "We are still hopeful that the NYPD which is investigating the vandalism will ultimately make an arrest."

Staff from the Wild Bird Fund, a wildlife rehabilitation center, responded to the scene and declared Flaco dead shortly after the collision. He was taken to the Bronx Zoo for a necropsy, which was expected Saturday.

"We hoped only to see Flaco hooting wildly from the top of our local water tower, never in the clinic," the World Bird Fund wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The escape

Flaco's time in the sky began on Feb. 2, 2023, when someone breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. Once inside, they cut a hole through a steel mesh cage, freeing the owl that arrived at the zoo as a fledgling 13 years earlier.

Since the zoo suspended efforts to re-capture Flaco in February 2023, there has been no public information about the crime.

Until now, Flaco defied the odds, thriving in the urban jungle despite a lifetime in captivity. He became one of the city's most beloved characters. By day he lounged in Manhattan's courtyards and parks or perches on fire escapes. He spent his nights hooting atop water towers and preying on the city's abundant rats.

Flaco sightings soon became sport. He was known for turning up unexpectedly at New Yorkers' windows and bird watchers tracked him around the Big Apple. 

Flaco's death was a heartbreaking end for the birders who documented the owl's daily movements and the legions of admirers who eagerly followed along. Tributes poured in Saturday for Flaco.

"Everybody feels the same, they're devastated," said Nicole Blair, a New York City artist who devoted much of her feed on the X platform to photos and memes featuring the owl with checkerboard black and brown feathers and round sunset-hued eyes.

Like a true celebrity, the owl appeared on murals and merchandise. A likeness occupied a spot on Blair's New York City-themed Christmas tree, right next to "Pizza Rat," the infamous rodent seen in a YouTube clip dragging a slice down a subway stairwell.

"I got to see him on my birthday," Blair said of her encounter with Flaco in Central Park in the fall. "It was kind of an unbelievable situation, and I'm like, this is the best birthday present ever."

But she and others worried when Flaco ventured beyond the park into more urban sections of Manhattan, fearing the owl would ingest a poisoned rat or encounter other dangers.

The normally vocal owl whose hours of hooting became a nightly song in the Upper West Side had been quieter in the days before his death, said David Barrett, who runs the Manhattan Bird Alert account on X and tracked reports of the owl's activities.

Barrett wondered whether Flaco had gone off to explore other neighborhoods, but news of the death made him suspect the bird became ill, he said Saturday.

“He hadn't gone anywhere. He was just being quiet in his old neighborhood and that, I say, suggests he was not well, he was not feeling up to hooting,” Barrett said.

Fans mourn

Flaco fans on Saturday shared suggestions for a permanent bronze statue overlooking the city. One requested that the owl's remains be buried in Central Park.

"Flaco the Owl was, in many ways, a typical New Yorker — fiercely independent, constantly exploring, finding ways to survive ever-changing challenges," read a post on X, reflecting a common sentiment. "He will be missed."

Barrett suggested a temporary memorial at the bird's favorite oak tree in the park. There, he wrote in a post, fellow birders could "lay flowers, leave a note, or just be with others who loved Flaco."

Later, Barrett said visitors were dropping by the temporary memorial to lay flowers and share memories.

“Seeing an owl at all is special,” he said. “Seeing an owl well, consistently day after day, that’s quite a special thing. And that’s something Flaco delivered.”