{"product_id":"the-book-of-flaco-the-worlds-most-famous-bird","title":"The Book of Flaco by David Gessner","description":"\u003ch1\u003eThe Book of Flaco: The World's Most Famous Bird by David Gessner\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe story of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from Central Park Zoo and captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of followers around the world.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a parable of freedom, wildness, and our urban ecosystems. \u003cstrong\u003eFlaco has been dubbed “the world’s most famous bird.” \u003c\/strong\u003eFrom the night in February of 2023 when vandals cut a hole in his cage until his death a year later in a courtyard on the Upper West Side, his is a story full of adventure and unexpected turns.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eNature writer David Gessner chronicles the year-long odyssey of Flaco and the human drama that followed the owl who captured the imaginations of New Yorkers and people around the world.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough he’d spent his life in a cage, Flaco learned to survive in New York City by eating rats, squirrels, and birds. He was an immigrant coming from elsewhere to make it in the big city. Central Park, the island of green in an urban sea, was his new home territory.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFlaco’s urban adventure brought controversy, pitting those who felt he should be returned to the safety of the zoo against those who created the \u003cstrong\u003e“Free Flaco”\u003c\/strong\u003e movement. The birding world was fractured over the ethics of the online sharing of his location that brought hordes of observers to view him each day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd his end—with a grim necropsy revealing \u003cstrong\u003eFlaco had suffered a viral infection from eating pigeons\u003c\/strong\u003e and had multiple rodenticides in his system—serves as a Rachel Carson-esque warning about the \u003cstrong\u003eharm we’ve done to our urban environments,\u003c\/strong\u003e inspiring the passage of long-sought legislation protecting urban birds and regulations meant to reduce the use of rodenticides in New York City.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bust-Down Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50292665614651,"sku":"1958888478","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0855\/2077\/7531\/files\/12180613482885.jpg?v=1747225945","url":"https:\/\/bustdownbooks.com\/products\/the-book-of-flaco-the-worlds-most-famous-bird","provider":"Bust-Down Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}