An owl has escaped from its enclosure at the Central Park Zoo after vandals cut a hole in its exhibit, the New York City Parks Department said.
The brazen bird, a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco, was discovered missing from his exhibit around 8.30pm on Thursday night.
According to Central Park Zoo, Flaco’s exhibit had been sabotaged earlier that day and its mesh wiring cut.
Flaco hadn’t flown far, however – he was spotted less than a block east of Central Park on Fifth Avenue.
Upper East Side residents were surprised and concerned when they found the owl sitting on a neighborhood sidewalk outside a Citibank. Some noticed that he was wearing a band on his leg and appeared frightened or confused.
Locals reached out to the NYPD, who responded and tried to rescue the avian. The officers roped off a perimeter, and tried to coax the owl into a pet carrier.
‘We tried to help this lil wise guy, but he had enough of his growing audience & flew off,’ the NYPD’s 19th Precinct tweeted.
Flaco eventually landed high up in a tree in Hallett Nature Sanctuary overlooking the Pond in Central Park’s southeast corner. He is being closely monitored by Parks Department staff.
Some onlookers expressed concern for the stranded bird, as New York City prepares for an upcoming ‘arctic blast’ of cold weather. However, experts confirmed to ABC7 that Eurasian eagle-owls are well suited for the cold weather. They are more concerned that Flaco will not be able to find food in the wild.
The incident is strangely similar to the outbreak of vandalism and theft targeting animals that has plagued the Dallas Zoo for the past few weeks. Acts of vandalism at the Texas zoo have lead to the escape of a clouded leopard as well as the death of an endangered vulture.
Earlier today, police in Dallas announced the arrest of a man they suspect broke into an exhibit and stole two emperor tamarin monkeys. Both monkeys were rescued and returned to the zoo after they were found hidden in an abandoned property.
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