An owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo after someone damaged its cage has become New York’s latest avian celebrity, attracting onlookers as it gazes out over the park from one tall tree or another, but stoking fears that it cannot hunt and starve.
The owl, a Eurasian eagle owl named Flaco, escaped on February 2, zoo spokesman Max Pulsinelli said in a news release the next day.
“The facility had been vandalized and the stainless steel mesh had been cut,” Pulsinelli explained. “After notification, a team was mobilized to search for the bird.”
Skinny flew from the zoo to the nearby Fifth Avenue shopping center, where police officers tried to catch him and failed.
He returned to Central Park the next morning and has since been seen at various locations in the southeast section of the park. Flaco has spent part of his time on the grounds of the zoo from which he fled, but has not returned to captivity on his own.
Zoo officials said last week they were trying to recapture Flaco, but have since issued no update on their efforts.
fear of starvation
Initially, reports claimed that no one had seen Flaco eat during his first six days on the run. However, according to The New York Times, days later they observed that Flaco had spat out a small ball of animal matter – rat hair and bones – in Central Park.
On Wednesday, from an oak tree in Hallett Nature Sanctuary, Skinny commanded the view of the ice skaters on Wollman Rink. A small crowd watched from a respectful distance.
“I just want to see how it is doing,” said Gig Palileo, a retired health worker, examining the owl through the lens of her camera. “I’m a nurse, so I’m always like, ‘Are you still alert?'”
Palileo said he was saddened “that someone would have let this guy go without even thinking about the consequences. … He probably doesn’t know how to hunt.”
“He can learn to hunt”
Kenny Cwiok, a retired corrections officer from the state prison system, was more optimistic about the owl’s survival in the wild. “I think he can survive,” Kwiok said. “If he learned to fly, I suppose he could learn to hunt.”
Kwiok called Skinny a “celebrity” like the brilliantly plumaged mandarin duck that dazzled park visitors a few years ago. “He was a star,” says Kwiok. “He Was the Brad Pitt of Central Park.”
The Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the largest owl species, with a wingspan of up to 2 meters, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. It has large claws and a distinctive ear tuft.
Like the mandarin duck, the Eurasian eagle-owl is not native to North America, but native owl species such as the great horned owl and long-eared owl frequent Central Park, feeding on rats, mice, and small birds.
Dustin Partridge, director of conservation and science for NYC Audubon, said he hopes Flaco’s plight will help raise awareness about the escaped bird’s wild cousins. “There are a lot of owls in the city,” Partridge says. “If you’ve never seen an owl, they are majestic creatures.”
FEW (AP, The New York Times)