Flaco, owl whose death shocked NYC, had evidence of bird herpes and rodenticides
Flaco, the owl who endeared himself to New Yorkers in sightings around Manhattan, had underlying conditions consistent with urban wildlife when he died last month, zoo officials said.
Flaco, the owl who endeared himself to New Yorkers in sightings around Manhattan, had underlying conditions consistent with urban wildlife when he died last month, zoo officials said.
Flaco was roughly 13 years old when he was found dead Feb. 23 in the courtyard of an apartment building in New York City's Upper West Side, Central Park Zoo, his former home, said.
While a next-day necropsy found he died of "acute traumatic injury" after witnesses saw him strike the building, he also had significant underlying conditions, revealed in a Central Park Zoo statement Monday.
Completed postmortem testing found Flaco had severe pigeon herpesvirus from eating feral pigeons. There was also evidence of four anticoagulant rodenticides commonly used for rat control, which together composed another significant underlying condition, it said.
"These factors 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," the zoo said.
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