As the first anniversary of The premature death of beloved Flaco In New York, two fans passionate about the Freed Eurasian Eagle-Owl published a photo book produced with love devoted to his year of freedom after his unforeseen release of the Central Park zoo. A company self-published by amateur ornithologists from New York Jaqueline Emery and David Lei, Find Flaco: our year with the beloved owl from New York (2024) contains more than 200 photos of the owl in all its glory, supplemented by detailed personal observations of its transformation during its 13 months to adapt to life in the big city.
Flaco lived in an enclosure at the Central Park zoo from November 2010 to February 2023 and escaped his exhibition after an unknown vandal cut the protective net in a night space. He continuously escaped the recovery of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which quickly withdrew his efforts and resigned to simply monitor the owl while he adapted to life in nature – and under the spotlight.
Flaco has become a feeling for the city's bird community and the general population like thousands of people rooted for him in his transition from the ambivalent animal to captivity to a majestic bird of prey. Lei and Emery documented Flaco's growth from the day of his escape through his unexpected death at the end of February 2024 after hitting a building – his toxicology report returned with positive results of pigeon herpesvirus and exposure to several rodentides.
Having met Flaco some 150 times, Lei and Emery had thousands of photos of Flaco himself like a charismatic owl, curious and independent against all expectations after 10 years at the zoo.
Photos of the magnificent raptor nestled in the trees and the reduction of the city's rats are juxtaposed to images of perched on construction vehicles and active sites, assessing his environment and understanding of his place in the big city like many of us while we slide under scaffolding and we hold through traffic barriers.
“In a city of immigrants, Flaco was a stranger living in strange land and doing his best to adapt,” wrote Lei and Emery Hyperalgic. “He was an eligible baccalaureate, but could not find the love he was looking for. He was a symbol for those who were looking for hope and inspiration and a bridge to appreciate owls and other wild animals.”
“But, for us, Flaco was not a metaphor – he was an individual with a unique personality who lived for his own benefit,” continued Lei and Emery. “He was also our dear winged friend whose heritage lives in efforts to make New York safer for raptors and other wild animals.”
In addition to the perfect compositions of Lei and Emery, the pair describes their encounters and the others with the bird, referring carefully to the hunting and perching habits of Flaco, its new propensity to Hoo Peeping, among other observations.
When his premature death occurred just three weeks after his first anniversary of life in nature, Lei, Emery and Tout New York cried Flaco and what came without knowing it. The assault of heavy emotions was manifested in sincere illustrations and letters placed in his commemorative tree of Central Park as well as public art throughout the city.
“The outpouring of sorrow and love, as well as a later debate on the fate of animals in captivity and the danger of rat poisons to raptors, demonstrate that, for many people, Flaco was always more than a simple owl” Hyperalgic.
Keep the memory of the perpetuity owl, Find Flaco is available via the New York Historical.
