By John Di Leonardo
Flaco, the beloved Eurasian Eagle-Owl who took the world by storm a year ago after finding freedom in Central Park after being sprung from a small cage at the Central Park Zoo, has died—killed over the weekend after crashing into a building on West 89th Street.
When Flaco was sprung from his cage by an unknown person, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)—which was responsible for keeping Flaco, who had a wingspan of more than 6 feet, in a cage no larger than a bus-stop for 13 years prior—claimed Flaco did not know how to hunt and would quickly die if not captured, however, Flaco had no desire to return to life in a cage and after a week of failed attempts, the zoo gave up on capturing him. At the time of his death, Flaco was a healthy weight, only a fraction lighter than he was during his sedentary life at the zoo, however, WCS quickly wasted news of the tragedy to call on authorities to capture the “vandal” who freed him, ignoring the fact that thanks to this unknown person’s actions, Flaco had at least lived—soaring the skies, hunting for prey, and becoming an icon—before he died.
While it’s unlikely that whoever freed Flaco will ever be identified—never mind caged themselves—WCS missed an important opportunity to save the lives of other birds just like Flaco. Thankfully, others did not. Edita Birnkrant—a ‘Lights Out’ coalition member, Humane Long Island board member, and the Executive Director, NYCLASS—said “[Flaco’s death] highlights the urgent need to pass legislation in the NYC Council to mandate bird-friendly glass and materials on all appropriate buildings, and to pass more expansive ‘Lights Out’ legislation that would collectively save the lives of hundreds of thousands of birds who needlessly crash into buildings and die yearly in New York City.”
According to the ‘Lights Out Coalition,’ “it is well established that many species of birds are attracted to and disoriented by light emanating from buildings and windows and that birds collide with reflective and transparent surfaces like windows and glass facades by day and night. Known in the last legislative session as Intro 1039, this City Council bill would eliminate unnecessary and nonessential building illumination to help reduce the roughly quarter of a million bird deaths from collisions with buildings in our city each year. Yet the Council has failed to call it up for a vote for nearly a decade. That failure has resulted in the death of roughly 2 ½ million birds, including our beloved Flaco.”
For this week’s Anuvrat, I invite you to protect birds by never visiting a zoo, never using rodenticide—which is a contributing factor in the deaths of countless birds of prey who collide with New York City skyscrapers every year—and joining our friends at Lights Out New York City to call on the New York City Council to stop deadly bird collisions by passing ‘lights out’ legislation. A petition in support of this legislation is available at LadyFreeThinker.org: http://bit.ly/43janUe.
John Di Leonardo is the founding director of Humane Long Island. He was previously the Senior Manager of Grassroots Campaigns and Animals in Entertainment Campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He has a Master’s degree in Anthrozoology from Canisius College. He also earned a graduate certificate in Jain Studies from the International School of Jain Studies (ISJS) in India. John can be reached at [email protected].
