The Bronx Zoo has just released Flaco's necropsy results.
He was not thriving, as the people championing the ideal of "freedom" claimed.
He was poisoned.
He was sick.
He was suffering.
"Freedom" would have eventually killed him. A building just happened to do it first.
"Postmortem testing has been completed for Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl that was found down in the courtyard of a Manhattan building a little over a year after his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo was vandalized on February 2, 2023. Onlookers reported that Flaco had flown into a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on February 23, 2024, and acute trauma was found at necropsy.
Bronx Zoo veterinary pathologists determined that in addition to the traumatic injuries, Flaco had two significant underlying conditions. He had a severe pigeon herpesvirus from eating feral pigeons that had become part of his diet, and exposure to four different anticoagulant rodenticides that are commonly used for rat control in New York City. These factors would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal, even without a traumatic injury, and may have predisposed him to flying into or falling from the building.
The identified herpesvirus can be carried by healthy pigeons but may cause fatal disease in birds of prey including owls infected by eating pigeons. This virus has been previously found in New York City pigeons and owls. In Flaco’s case, the viral infection caused severe tissue damage and inflammation in many organs, including the spleen, liver, gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow, and brain.
No other contributing factors were identified through the extensive testing that was performed.
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."
The naturalistic fallacy kills animals in horrible ways. The romanticism of what humans want to think of as a "free, wild, pure life" cannot be allowed supplant the reality of injury, sickness, and death. Releasing captive animals (or keeping them from being recaptured) because it's "better" for them to suffer untethered than live a healthy, safe, captive life is inhumane and horrific.
Flaco's life didn't have to end in pain, sickness, and suffering.
Flaco's death didn't have to be tragic.
But once the idea of "freedom" entered the chat, Flaco's fate was unavoidable.
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When your nemesis doesn't want your undivided attention anymore :(
This a scene in a fic on ao3 by @distort-opia called "falls the shadow"
it's a very serious scene full of confusion and sadness and angst but I kept laughing thinking about this man not handling rejection well
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Someone posts on their Twitter account, “I walked pass this restaurant on my lunch break and there was this gay couple on the patio, oohing and awing into a phone about seeing their little girl. When I walked past them, they were FaceTiming a cat.”
Jonathan replies to this tweet with a picture of Steve and Eddie at a restaurant and he asks, “Was it these idiots or is someone else in the same layer as hell as me?”
They reply, “Yeah, that was them.”
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A little excerpt from Wada’s illustration of Servant nightclothes. LOOK AT HER!!!
Basic TL:
Kiara: bottom half is transparent and she wears no panties, but she does wear socks
Wada’s brain is so huge. She really gets it. It’s elegant and creatively slutty, but also really fucking cute?? That’s so Kiara. These are for sure the clothes she would wear.
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