Have you ever heard of Flaco? Flaco is a Eurasian eagle owl who recently made headlines after escaping from the Central Park Zoo in New York City. On Thursday night, Flaco was discovered missing after its enclosure had been vandalized and the stainless steel mesh cut. The search for Flaco began immediately, and the New York Police Department even tweeted that they had spotted the owl on the sidewalk on 5th Avenue.
After being spotted in a tree near the zoo, Flaco flew into Central Park at sunrise on Friday and zoo employees have been able to keep visual contact with the owl. The zoo is focusing all its efforts on the safe recovery of Flaco and has enlisted the help of multiple local agencies.
The mysterious circumstances surrounding Flaco’s escape is not the only strange event to occur in zoos across the country. Just five days before Flaco’s exhibit was tampered with, 12 squirrel monkeys were stolen from a Louisiana zoo. Two days after that, two emperor tamarin monkeys went missing at the Dallas Zoo. To make matters worse, an endangered lappet-faced vulture was found dead in its enclosure with a suspicious wound on Jan. 21. Fortunately, the tamarins were recovered and a suspect has been arrested and charged for taking the tamarins and tampering with two enclosures.
The events surrounding Flaco’s escape are still mysterious, but the zoo is doing everything in its power to ensure the safe recovery of the owl. Stay tuned for updates as this story develops.
Source: www.npr.org