Sure, The Owl Gets All the Attention

The bird has its own Wikipedia page and crowds of adoring fans who traipse from one end of Central Park to the other in hopes of seeing their hero. Flaco, the newest sensation, in a city that regurgitates sensationalism like the owl does rats’ bones and tails. A Eurasian eagle-owl with a wingspan that tops five feet.

Until February 2, 2023, Flaco didn’t rate much more than a glance as the millions milled past his cage in the Central Park Zoo. Big owl. Cool. Isn’t this where the snow leopards are?

But somewhere — possibly in this city — there lives someone who is responsible for the hole cut in Flaco’s cage. The person who shot this bird to international stardom, the bird who barely got a mention when Daddy brought Cyndi and Veronica home from their day at the zoo. And chances are if we don’t know yet who dunnit we’re not going to know.

Unless they want us to know.

And so far, they don’t.

Smart. Keep a low profile and enjoy the hubbub. It’s already begun to die down some although Manhattan Bird Alert and about twenty other intrepid birders are still out there keeping the city up to date on Flaco’s activities. He’s an owl. He sleeps during the day (when his fans keep it down) and then each evening there’s Fly Out which the truly committed are determined to document. Each evening.

And it appears he’s gotten pretty adept at grabbing the unwary rat and tucking into dinner.

Early on, in the first week after Flaco got out of the cage, zoo keepers attempted to catch him with a caged lab rat and a snare. Birders and Flaco fans watched with bated breath as he got tangled briefly in the snare. Was this it?

NO!

The owl shook off the loops of the snare and flew away. In the next day or two several of his most ardent followers observed him chucking up the rat bits even an owl can't digest. Proof was at hand that the previously caged owl had learned how to hunt.

Long threads on social media rhapsodize about the glories of Flaco’s free life of adventure in Central Park. Maybe it’s time to take up a collection to bring a lady eagle owl to Central Park. I hear a children’s book being written in the distance. Anyone jockeying for movie rights yet? And of course the owl is a natural for YouTube.

After being caged for over ten years, the eagle owl can now go wherever TF he feels like. He’s the baddest bad ass in the park now and we have some unknown vandal to thank for this welcome break from war and pandemic and bone-headed politicians.

Yes, somewhere (maybe in the city, maybe not) there is the person who set this adventure story in motion. Dozens of birders and hundreds of tourists marvel at Flaco's new freedom. He's been out in the park for a month now and seems to have mastered the skills he needs to live quite comfortably in Central Park. Does his benefactor wish for some credit for having done what some see as a noble deed?

Treasure your anonymity, Secret Vandal, notoriety can only backfire for you at this point. Something you're probably well aware of. But do accept the humble thanks of a city that really needed to see a big owl kill rodents while making zoo-keepers and cops look foolish.

The owl? He’s got rats to kill.

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