Partial remains of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl whose escape from the Central Park Zoo and free for years who captivated New York City before his death in February, will be preserved in a museum near where he spent most of his life, zoo officials said Tuesday.
Flaco's wings and tissue samples have been transferred to the American Museum of Natural History, where they will become part of the scientific collections, according to a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Central Park Zoo.
The collections are “widely used by scientists and also by artists who develop images for educational materials, including birding field guides,” the association said in the statement, noting that the remains would not be visible to the public.
A museum spokeswoman declined to comment.
The tissue samples will be kept in the museum's frozen tissue specimen collection, the association said. The rest of Flaco's remains are archived at the Bronx Zoo's Wildlife Health Center.
The society announced in March that it had been found during a necropsy by pathologists at the Bronx Zoo enough rat poison and pigeon virus in Flaco's system to kill him even if he hadn't died after apparently hitting a building on the Upper West Side.
The first necropsy results released the day after Flaco's death on February 23 indicated that he had suffered an acute traumatic injury to his body, with signs of significant bleeding under his sternum and in his back, near his liver.
The findings confirmed widespread concerns about the dangers Flaco, who would have turned 14 in March, faced living as a free bird in Manhattan for just over a year.
“Flaco's serious illness and death are ultimately attributed to a combination of factors – infectious diseases, exposure to toxins and traumatic injuries – that underscore the dangers faced by wild birds, especially in an urban environment,” the association said in a statement at the time.
Flaco, who had lived all his life in captivity, was not a wild bird. But I had to learn to live as someone who was starting out February 2, 2023, when someone shredded the mesh of his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo. No one has been arrested; Police have said the investigation is continuing.
Despite significant questions about whether he could thrive on his own, Flaco taught himself to feast on the park's plentiful supply of rats and quickly became an underdog that many New Yorkers championed. Bird watchers, ornithologists and ordinary people followed his activities closely, in person and online.
After association employees abandoned their retrieval efforts, Flaco created a comfortable routine on the north side of the park. He started wandering around Halloween around Manhattanexciting to those on whose air conditioners, balconies and fire escapes he appeared.
Experts and others tried to dampen excitement about his unlikely stay. Eurasian eagle owls can live more than 40 years in captivity, but average only 20 years in the wild. No one could predict if and when urban hazards such as rat poison, a construction strike or a vehicle collision might shorten his life.
In the wake of his death, state legislation was proposed that would require building owners to take steps to reduce the chance of damage birds hitting windows was renamed in his honor. A city councilor introduced legislation, also with Flaco in mind limit the use of rat poison in the city.
As of Tuesday, about 5,300 people had signed an online petition calling for the installation of a life-size statue of Flaco in Central Park. About 60,000 had signed one urging the police and the conservation organization to “restart” the investigation. who has destroyed his residence.
For the last few months of his life, Flaco was a wandering fixture on the Upper West Side from the 1970s to the 1990s, ranging from Central Park to Riverside Drive, sitting on rooftops and water towers and honking his horn for hours in the darkness.
A part of him will now remain close forever.