Free Bird! Free Bird!

There was an escape from captivity in New York City on February 2 that has caught the attention of the 243,098,195 people who squeeze together in that metropolis. 

On the loose is Flaco, a 13-year-old Eurasian eagle-owl whose enclosure at the Central Park Zoo was vandalized, allowing him to soar through the friendly skies of Gotham.

Have you seen me?

For several weeks, zoo staffers were on the hunt, trying to lure him back, and while many supported the effort, many others threw down the penalty flag, alleging that the tricks they were using, including leaving out his favorite food, and  playing audio of the sounds of a female owl, weren't sporting at all. Those people asserted that Flaco (Spanish for "skinny") has the right to fly as he chooses, so "let him go." As with everything these days, there is a social media outcry over his freedom. They're using the hashtag #freeflaco. There is an online petition, which racked up over 1,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.

So, as of last week, the Zoo put out a statement saying that they will stop trying to capture the bird, but will "continue to monitor Flaco and his activities, and be prepared to resume recovery efforts if he shows any sign of difficulty or distress.”

Flaco has been a Zoo resident since 2010. Some people at the Zoo were afraid that over these 13 years, he had lost his innate hunting and survival skills, since he has been caged and fed by humans.  Nothing could be farther from the truth! Crowds thronged to the Park to see his aerial acrobatic displays, soaring branch to branch, tree to tree.

And the day after he was seen having a rat for dinner, New Yorkers figured (sing it with me!) "If he could make it there, he'd make it anywhere," so they are letting nature run it course.

Between 2021's Hurricane Ida, which substantially reduced the rat population of New York by flooding rodent nests in sewers and subways, and hungry hungry Flaco, it's gotten to where vermin hardly have a chance!