Postmortem: Rat Poison and a Pigeon Virus Killed Flaco

Last month beloved Eurasian eagle-owl Flaco met his end when he smashed into a building on Manhattan's Upper West side, but a toxicology report this week confirms he wasn’t long for this world anyway, as the poor guy was rife with poison.

“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,” the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Central Park Zoo, said in a statement.

Along with the four (!) different kinds of rodenticide in his system, Flaco also had a severe pigeon herpesvirus, no doubt because he had balanced his rat diet with feral pigeons. In spite of these toxins, Flaco was in pretty good shape: only one tenth of a pound less than his last recorded weight, taken more than a year earlier. He probably had dropped the excess weight with exercise he had never enjoyed in captivity. 

If it weren’t for all that poison we continue to douse the city’s rats with, Flaco might be alive and thriving today, as would be many other birds of prey in New York. City agencies dump about 60,000 pounds of rodenticides on the streets every year (and it does very little to curb the rat population).

The irony is that a healthy population of raptors would obviate the need for rat poison in the first place. The city is home to owls, hawks, peregrine falcons, kestrels, and even the occasional bald eagle. We should make them feel welcome by providing them with untainted food.

Fans of Flaco have started a petition to memorialize the owl with a statue: “We propose a pedestal with a branch protruding and a life size Flaco statue in this pose perched upon it, located near the tree across from the compost in the northeast quadrant of the park where he roosted most often.”

Nice sentiment. While we remember Flaco fondly, we should also never forget what killed him. If we want these magnificent birds to live among us in the city, we’re going to need to accommodate their needs. Step one will be phasing out the use of poison.

Photo credit: David Lei via X