:owl-wink: FREEDOOOOOOM
The Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the larger owl species, with a wingspan up to 79 inches, or about six-and-a-half feet.
Considering the current panic about the explosive growth of the NYC rat population, Flaco is destined to become a local hero.
Augmenting the pigeons, alligators, and parakeets with flocks of urban owls.
Hopefully he does okay. Owls are very vulnerable to cars when they feed on road kill at night. I hope he does well.
Another cause for concern is getting caught on barbed wire or electrocuted.
In general, Owls are not that bright (albeit not “dumb”) particularly when it comes to avoiding hazards, relative to other birds. Which is kind of funny since they’re seen as a symbol for wisdom in multiple cultures all over the world.
Luckily all cars besides Park staff are banned in Central Park, and there's enough rats there to keep him fed for a very long time.
Sadly this is not a good thing for a number of reasons.
Flaco is predominantly eating rats which is not his species’ main diet and is not providing him with nutritional diversity.
While Central Park doesn’t use rat poison, its use is unrestricted in all surrounding neighborhoods and rats can have territorial ranges in the hundreds of meters. Rats tainted with poison are slower and more vulnerable to predation.
The last owl in Central Park (which was killed in a collision with the truck mind you), was found to have near lethal levels of rodenticide in its system and would likely not have lasted very long before the accident. And this does not touch on the non-mortal effects of the poison on their well-being leading up to it.
Flaco is 13 years old; in its natural environment his species can live to 20 years. It is likely he will not last for more than a year at this rate.
Aside from all that, Flaco is non-native and larger than native predators. If he does end up becoming a more proficient hunter there is a significant risk he will disrupt what few native bird populations that remain in the park. It’s not a responsible precedent if we hope to rebuild and preserve extant biodiversity and establish that mindset in the general public.
I know I’m a buzzkill here, and the zoo is in a tight spot with what will be a PR mess regardless of what they do now that it’s viral. But the best thing for Flaco would be to catch him and bring him to a wildlife refuge somewhere away from a prey monoculture full of poison.
To be clear, Flaco is large enough to eat native owls and other birds of prey. It's actively detrimental to leave Flaco in Central Park
