This morning, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl flew from Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan to a tree in Hallett Nature Sanctuary, where it spent most of the day before flying down to a lower tree. It was being monitored throughout the day by Wildlife Conservation Society staff.

It got harassed by a Cooper’s Hawk and two Red-tailed Hawk.

But it also got harassed by humans.

An individual with no regard for the welfare of the owl, jumped a fence into the Hallett Nature Sanctuary, and proceeded through the landscape in clear violation of the regulations for the sanctuary, which require patrons to stay on the paths. His response to being thrown out, was that it was worth it because he got great pictures. He went up to the group of us photographing the owl from across the pond, and said “Can you believe it someone called the cops on me”. It made my day to say, “It was me”.

The sanctuary was closed to give the owl a safe space to come lower, and hopefully be captured. No picture is worth putting this owl at more risk!

But even worse. was to find out that someone had vandalized the Eurasian Eagle-Owl’s enclosure and released the owl on purpose. This Dallas Zoo copycat has a good chance of being responsible for the death of this wonderful owl.

It also rubbed salt in the wound to have folks send tweets like this one.

How idiotic for 209 folks to like a tweet like this, and to have it be retweeted on David Barrett’s Manhattan Bird Alert. There is nothing romantic about releasing a bird, not equipped to be in the wild, from the Central Park Zoo. It was irresponsible and horribly cruel. Period!