Flaco’s death underscores the importance of rodenticide controls in Connecticut; a new bill would regulate the rat poisons found in the eagle-owl’s body
Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo, died with 4 different rodenticides in its body. By Nan Knighton – Email directly from author, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=142479118
March 26, 2024—Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo a year ago and died in February, had been poisoned with four different rodenticides.
The news underscores the critical importance in Connecticut of passing a new state law to strictly regulate the kind of rat poisons that contributed to Flaco’s death—second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides.
The New York Times reported the results of the bird’s necropsy. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Central Park Zoo, released this statement with more details.
The Connecticut Audubon Society and other advocates are pushing for passage in Hartford of HB 5217, An Act Concerning the Use of Certain Rodenticides.
Second generation rodenticides don’t kill rats and mice immediately. The animals survive for a while and become easy prey for hawks, owls, eagles and other birds, which themselves become poisoned.
Connecticut Audubon and other organizations are calling for a full ban in the state.
Within the next week or so, you’ll have an opportunity to make your voice heard in Hartford on this issue. Elected officials listen to their constituents, and your involvement will make a difference.
To join our list of advocates, click this box:
Flaco was presumably poisoned by the rodenticides after eating rats. It had lived for 13 years at the Central Park Zoo before escaping through a gap in its fence that zoo officials say was intentionally cut.
Flaco was also suffering from a virus that probably infected him after eating pigeons and had traces of long-banned DDT in his body.
The WCS statement said: “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.
“Toxicology testing also revealed trace amounts of DDE, a breakdown product of the pesticide DDT, but the levels detected in Flaco were not clinically significant and did not contribute to his death. Although DDT has been banned in the United States since the early 1970s, it and its breakdown products are remarkably persistent in the environment, and this finding is reminder of the long legacy of DDT and its dire effects on wild bird populations.”
