{"id":775404,"date":"2024-04-24T08:36:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T12:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=775404"},"modified":"2024-04-24T08:43:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T12:43:56","slug":"we-all-connected-over-flaco-artists-turn-beloved-animals-into-symbols-of-their-u-s-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=775404","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We all connected over Flaco\u2019: Artists turn beloved animals into symbols of their U.S. cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Those behind Flaco's memorials see a particular resonance in city wildlife. People feel this helplessness on a personal level. There are parallels for us as humans: What is our true nature? Is it being behind a screen 10, 12 hours a day? Is it being in a fluorescent lighting office building 40 hours plus a week? Flaco struggled at first but eventually triumphed: He found his goldmine, the oak tree over by the compost heap. Ultimately, he became a symbol of liberation.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

MATTHEW CANTOR:<\/strong> Working near Central Park, one New Yorker regularly witnessed one of its most beloved residents: Flaco the owl, who became a celebrity after escaping the nearby zoo. The woman took the bird\u2019s message to heart, re-evaluated her life and decided to quit her job. Now, she\u2019s one of dozens with a Flaco tattoo. \u201cThey\u2019ll be walking around the rest of their lives, that name and owl on their arm,\u201d says Duke Riley, an environmental artist…<\/em><\/p>\n

A month earlier, the bird\u2019s well-wishers had gathered in Central Park for a memorial service, featuring speeches, poetry and music inspired by him. It was the second Central Park owl memorial service in three years \u2013 in 2021, the death of a barred owl named Barry also drew mourners to the park. In between, 6,000 people met at Los Angeles\u2019s Greek Theatre in Griffith Park to celebrate the life of P-22, the park\u2019s beloved mountain lion, at an event that sold out in hours.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wild animal celebrities have long existed \u2013 and been memorialized \u2013 worldwide, from Huberta the Hippo, who was taxidermied after poachers killed her in 1931, to Cecil the Lion, whose 2015 death at the hands of an American hunter prompted international tributes. But for America\u2019s urban wildlife, the past few years seem to have inspired particular devotion…<\/em><\/p>\n

Those behind the memorials see a particular resonance in city wildlife. Riley says as the climate crisis continues, \u201cpeople feel this helplessness on a personal level\u201d. So when nature defies our efforts to control it, there\u2019s something \u201ccathartic and beautiful and poetic about that\u201d…<\/em><\/p>\n

That was certainly the case with Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl who spent most of his 13 years in the Central Park Zoo, before someone cut open his enclosure in February 2023. At first, the zoo tried to recapture him, fearing for his safety in the wild. But as any New Yorker knows, there are plenty of rats to eat in Central Park, and Flaco spent a year as a free bird.<\/em><\/p>\n

He died this February in a collision with a building \u2013 though he was also suffering from rat poison and a pigeon virus. Barry, too, had a possibly lethal amount of rat poison in her body when she died in a collision with a maintenance vehicle; the poison may have affected her flying ability.<\/em><\/p>\n

But their deaths only strengthened their bonds with the city. They may have been different species, but their experiences felt familiar. \u201cI think there are a lot of people that relate to the owl\u2019s experience on a human level, that are struggling to get by in this town,\u201d Riley says. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to scratch out a little bit of freedom in a town where people are often sitting in a cubicle all day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Breanne Delgado, who officiated the memorial for Flaco, agrees we all share a similar struggle. As the world was reopening to humans, it also opened for the once-captive Flaco. \u201cIt just really made me think about the parallels to this moment for us as humans, right: what is our true nature? Is it being behind a screen 10, 12 hours a day? Is it being in a fluorescent lighting office building 40 hours plus a week?\u201d Flaco struggled at first but eventually triumphed: \u201cHe found his goldmine, the oak tree over by the compost heap,\u201d where rats were abundant. Ultimately, he became a \u201csymbol of liberation\u201d. <\/em>SOURCE…<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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