Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl, famous for his escape from the Central Park Zoo, had a severe pigeon virus and rat poison in his system at the time of his death last month.
Veterinary pathologists from the Bronx Zoo conducted a necropsy of the beloved owl following his death on Feb. 23, resulting from a crash into a building on the Upper West Side, and found that Flaco had been exposed to a number of potentially lethal threats.
"Flaco’s severe illness and death are ultimately attributed to a combination of factors—infectious disease, toxin exposures, and traumatic injuries—that underscore the hazards faced by wild birds, especially in an urban setting," a statement released by the Central Park Zoo said Monday.
Zoologists previously determined a day after he fatally struck the building that the owl's death was due to the traumatic impact. The latest findings from the Bronx pathologists claim his two underlying conditions "would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal, even without a traumatic injury, and may have predisposed him to flying into or falling from the building."
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The pigeon herpesvirus found in Flaco's system has been found in other pigeons and owls in New York City, according to the zoo's statement. For Flaco, the infection left him with severe tissue damage and inflammation in many of his organs.
What happened in Flaco's final hours is top of mind for his fans across the city, who cheered him on as he defied the odds by fending for himself despite a life in captivity. Police are still seeking to arrest whoever let him out of his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo a year ago.
Flaco had been in good physical shape, the necropsy found, succeeding in catching prey even though he had no experience hunting because he came to the zoo as a fledgling 13 years earlier. According to the necropsy report released Saturday, the owl weighed 1.89 kilograms (4.1 pounds), just 2% less than when he was last measured at the zoo.
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The Central Park Zoo put the blame squarely on the person who cut open Flaco’s enclosure. But they’re investigating illness as a possible factor, and plan to release an update in around two weeks.
Eulogies from his admirers poured in over the weekend. So did speculation about which of the many urban threats to wildlife may have contributed to his death.
Flaco fans who listened for his nightly hooting in on the Upper West Side reported he’d gone quiet in the days before his death, and theorized that he may have been ill.
