To many New Yorkers, Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl was a singular symbol of freedom. A lone hunter who prowled the rooftops of the Upper West Side after a still-unidentified vandal โ or vigilante, depending on your point of view โ released him from his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo last year.
But his death on Friday is the realization of many conservationistsโ fears about his safety in an urban environment โ and about the safety of other birds at sanctuaries and zoos across the country.
That includes Flacoโs dozen-plus brothers and sisters spread out at facilities across the country.He and his family are the product of a quiet, decades-long โspecies survival planโ to maintain the captive Eurasian eagle-owl population as wild owls face existential threats in their native territories in Europe and Asia.
Now, some conservationists are concerned their owls may become the target of a copycat avian activist who wants to see the creatures fly free. Even prior to Flacoโs death, conservationists and zoos alike were reluctant to share many details about their feathered charges for fear of drawing the attention of those hoping to โfreeโ them.
One zoo spokesperson refused to confirm an owlโs location. An aviculturist at a bird sanctuary with its own Eurasian eagle owl asked to be removed from the story after receiving comments on social media about releasing their owl.
Their fears are hardly unfounded. Flacoโs release itself may have been a copycat, patterned on a series of thefts from the Dallas Zoo, biologist Jeff Corwin told CNN anchor Laura Coates shortly after Flaco escaped.
And just days after Flaco broke free, keepers at the Houston Zoo discovered that someone had sliced through the mesh enclosing the pelican exhibit.
โIt disrupts a coordinated conservation effort across the United States,โ said Daniel Cone, assistant director of the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis, Missouri.
Even before Flacoโs death, Cone had expressed concerns about…
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