New York’s Flaco the owl had fatal conditions before colliding into building

Beloved zoo escapee had rat poison in its bloodstream and had contracted a serious disease from its diet of pigeon

Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl who gained fame after living free in New York City after escaping from captivity, was weakened by rat poison and a pigeon virus to the extent he would’ve died even if he had not fatally collided with a building earlier this year, a postmortem has found.

Flaco was 13 years old when he was found dead in the courtyard of a building on New York’s Upper West Side on 23 February, with trauma injuries that suggested he had flown directly into the structure.