File:Flaco the Eagle Owl.png

Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, Has Died

• https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/22056/Flaco-the-Eurasian-Eagle-Owl-Has-Died.aspx

The saga of Flaco touches on many "Living Earth" threads that weave throughout the environmental protection movement and a long-time eco-journalist, Andy Revkin, touched many of these in his new thought piece exploring 'the many meanings of the death of Flaco'. We agree with Andy@Revkin. The passing of a 'wise' symbol, who chose freedom instead of regular comfort, food, and security, who had to forage and use their wits to survive amid a very loud, dangerous, and unforgiving world (albeit one with plenty of scurrying rats running about in the streets and alleys), did resonate with many species human.

Here's Andy Revkin talking with cohorts who know about birds, and bird life, and threats that we humans can act to minimize as we look to protect life on our Living Earth...

Via Sustain What --

Andy's guests @ 1 PM EST Feb. 26:

• Carl Safina, ecologist, conservationist and author, whose New York Times op-ed article was just posted. Here it is paywall-free - “Like Many a Hero, Flaco the Owl Made His Choice.”

(from the article) -- Almost from the moment he was released, Flaco became a symbol of hope for many of the people who followed his story and recognized parts of themselves in him. Some saw him as the embodiment of the American dream, an outsider who had come to Manhattan and made a life for himself here, like millions of others who arrived penniless and unconnected in their quest for freedom. Others saw him as a poignant reminder that you can find happiness even if you’re alone (as the only free-living Eurasian eagle-owl in the Western Hemisphere, he had no chance of ever finding a wild mate). ...

Though the animal literature is peppered with stories of animals — usually pets — who suffer hardships and return home, Flaco never retreated to the zoo. Perhaps freedom itself was the home he’d discovered.

Andy also interviewed Adam Smith and Brendon Samuels -

• Adam Smith, an architect and director of design at Synecdoche, a Michigan firm centering bird-safe features in its projects.

• Brendon Samuels, a Ph.D. candidate at Western University in London, Ontario, studying building design and bird behavior. Samuels, working with the Fatal Light Awareness Program, a k a FLAP Canada, has created and assembled an array of invaluable resources highlighting the bird-building collision crisis and ways to mitigate enormous losses, which, he stresses, are NOT restricted to cities.

GreenPolicy360 suggests all of us protect birds and wildlife.

The times we are in, times of endangered species and species extinction suggest an All Species Day, today.

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SJS: And a tip of our Green hat to a Wise Education Owl, who became a mascot to an online university we helped to get flying ... and now a Wise WGU Owl continues on, flying high

* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:WGU-we_are_wise.jpg

* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:WGU_owl_logo.jpg

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