Now Central Park Zoo is targeted by vandals! Eurasian eagle owl named Flaco is on the loose in Manhattan after stainless steel mesh cage was cut
- The owl, named Flaco, was reported missing from its exhibit on Thursday night
- Central Park Zoo officials said the owl’s steel mesh enclosure had been cut
- It has since been spotted by a pond in the park, not far from the Plaza Hotel
A Eurasian eagle owl has escaped its enclosure at Central Park Zoo in New York City after vandals cut its stainless steel mesh cage.
The owl, named Flaco, was reported missing from its exhibit on Thursday night, and was later spotted walking along New York City’s iconic shopping stretch on Fifth Avenue.
Officials tried to recapture the bird, but it flew off before it could be caught. It was last seen in Central Park on Friday morning.
The owl was even spotted on the sidewalk by 5th Avenue and 60th Street by members of the NYPD but it was able to evade their custody and in the morning made off into Central Park.
The owl was spotted on Fifth Avenue and East 60th Street at around 9pm on Thursday. The NYPD attempted to get it into a cage, but were unsuccessful and it flew off.
‘Our focus and effort at this time is on the safe recovery of the owl,’ zoo officials said in a news release. ‘We will issue updates as needed.’
A Eurasian eagle owl has escaped its enclosure at Central Park Zoo in New York City after vandals cut its stainless steel mesh cage. The police tried to contain the own in a cage but it became scared and flew off
![The owl, named Flaco, was reported missing from its exhibit at Central Park Zoo on Thursday night, and was later spotted walking along New York City's iconic shopping stretch on Fifth Avenue](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/02/03/21/67306175-11711527-image-a-25_1675459607655.jpg)
The owl, named Flaco, was reported missing from its exhibit at Central Park Zoo on Thursday night, and was later spotted walking along New York City’s iconic shopping stretch on Fifth Avenue
Eurasian eagle-owls are one of the larger owl species with a wingspan greater than 6 feet and have mottled brown and black feathers with distinctive ear tufts. They are not native to North America.
This one might do fine in Central Park – if it knew how to hunt, said David Barrett, an avid birder who chronicles the city’s avian population via Twitter accounts including Manhattan Bird Alert and Brooklyn Bird Alert.
After years of captivity, however, ‘this owl has surely lost its skills for hunting,’ Barrett said. He estimated that the owl would starve after a day or two in the wild.
Zoo staff located the owl perched in a tree on Thursday night and stayed with it throughout the night.
At sunrise on Friday morning it then flew from the tree on 5th Avenue into Central Park, where the zoo said it made visual contact.
![After years of captivity in Central Park Zoo it is not expected that the owl will have the hunting skills it would need to stay alive in the wild](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/02/03/21/67306365-11711527-image-a-26_1675460326434.jpg)
After years of captivity in Central Park Zoo it is not expected that the owl will have the hunting skills it would need to stay alive in the wild
![Flaco, pictured on the loose last night, was able to evade the NYPD and made off into Central Park in the morning](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/02/03/21/67306903-11711527-image-m-38_1675460649221.jpg)
Flaco, pictured on the loose last night, was able to evade the NYPD and made off into Central Park in the morning
The vandalism at the New York City zoo occurred after a string of animal disappearances and other odd incidents across the country, including at the Dallas Zoo.
A 24-year-old Texas man was arrested on Thursday in connection with the kidnapping of two tamarin monkeys from Dallas Zoo. The man was taken into custody near Dallas Aquarium on Thursday and charged with animal cruelty.
He was discovered after officers found the monkeys inside an empty church that was also filled with cats, birds and other small animals.
Meanwhile Irvin was shown in eerie security footage creeping around the zoo apparently eyeing up animal enclosures.
Less than a week ago a dozen monkeys were stolen in a zoo burglary in Louisiana. The primates were taken from their enclosure at Zoosiana on Saturday, staffers at the Broussard zoo revealed in a statement, adding that the incident occurred moments before midnight.
In total, 12 squirrel monkeys were taken, the zoo said – with officials claiming an unidentified perpetrator targeted other small monkeys during the break-in as well, before only taking the aforementioned animals.
Officers have yet to make an arrest in the case.