It’s a real ‘hoo’-done-it. An exotic owl is on the lam after someone sabotaged its exhibit at the Central Park Zoo, allowing it to escape Thursday night before being spotted on the Upper East Side. Police are now investigating, as zookeepers and park rangers work to recover the large bird of prey.
According to zoo officials, workers discovered the Eurasian eagle owl was missing from its enclosure at 8:30 pm Thursday night. The exhibit had been vandalized and its stainless steel mesh cut, giving the rare raptor an opportunity to get away.
The Central Park Zoo says a special team was immediately mobilized to find the owl and the NYPD confirms to Upper East Site it is investigating the break-out.
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Two hours later, the owl was spotted by Good Samaritans — it was just hanging out on the sidewalk outside of the Citibank at 785 Fifth Avenue, at the corner of East 60th Street.
NYPD officers from the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct sprung into action, and worked to corral the confused critter into a dog crate, but after some time, the owl flew the coop once again, police say.
“Well, that was a hoot,” the 19th Precinct tweeted, “We tried to help this lil wise guy, but he had enough of his growing audience and flew off.”
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That wouldn’t be the end of the owl’s big adventure on the Upper East Side last night, zoo officials say their staff spotted the animal in a tree on Fifth Avenue near the zoo and stayed with the owl throughout the night.
“At sunrise this morning, the owl flew from the tree on Fifth Avenue and into Central Park where we continue to have visual contact with the bird,” the Central Park Zoo said in a statement.
“Our focus and effort at this time is on the safe recovery of the owl.”
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