Wild Inside is a documentary that tells “The Story of the Owl That Stopped New York.” The story of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl whose escape from the Central Park Zoo captivated New York City, has something for almost everyone. It is a jailbreak and an evasion of capture, a fish-out-of-water story, a saga of survival and personal growth, a tale of trying to make it in New York, an immigrant experience of sorts—Flaco was, after all, a non-native species—and even a search for love.
It is also a remarkably thorough chronicle. Director Penny Lane assembles an astounding amount of high-quality footage captured by devoted “owlers” and news organizations, while tracking down everyday New Yorkers who had unexpected encounters with Flaco during his wanderings across the city. In the process, Wild Inside becomes a documentary that examines human beings almost as much as it examines an owl on the loose.
After his escape from the Central Park Zoo, Flaco’s trials and triumphs captured the imagination of legions of fans who followed his daily movements. The unexpected sight of such a striking wild animal in the heart of New York’s urban landscape mesmerized the city. Some of the film’s funniest and most entertaining moments come not from Flaco himself, but from the ways people react to him and become caught up in the “Flaco experience.”
It was exhilarating to watch Flaco not only learn to hunt after 13 years in captivity, but continually adapt, thrive, and expand his territory. Yet there is an underlying sadness to his story. Flaco earned his freedom in an unforgiving urban environment. Lane said she knew that New York raptors commonly die from rat poison or collisions, and expected from the beginning that Flaco might eventually meet that fate. The question was how long Flaco could survive. He survived long enough, however, to capture the hearts of not only New Yorkers, but people around the world.
Lane presents multiple perspectives that raise difficult, perhaps irreconcilable questions, leaving an unresolved tension at the heart of Flaco’s story: Was he better off living a long, protected life in captivity, or experiencing a much shorter life with the freedom to live as a wild owl? Wild Inside does not attempt to provide an easy answer, and the film is stronger for leaving that question with the audience.
Flaco’s legacy extends beyond the emotional response to his remarkable life and death. His story helped focus public attention on a package of bird-protection measures in New York City commonly known as “Flaco’s Law.” One measure has already become law, establishing a pilot program that uses rat contraceptives as an alternative approach to controlling the city’s rat population and potentially reducing wildlife exposure to toxic rodenticides. Other proposed measures have sought to reduce nighttime building illumination and require bird-friendly materials in existing buildings to help prevent fatal window collisions.
Flaco’s story has also influenced broader efforts at the state level. Proposed New York State legislation would restrict the use and sale of certain anticoagulant rodenticides that can poison raptors and other wildlife, while the Feathered Lives Also Count Act seeks to incorporate bird-safe practices and design strategies into state-owned buildings.
Together, these efforts may ultimately prove to be one of Flaco’s most enduring legacies: transforming the public fascination surrounding one extraordinary owl into greater awareness of the largely preventable hazards facing wild birds in our cities.
The story surrounding Wild Inside extends even to the way the film is being promoted. Rather than relying solely on conventional film marketing, the producers have embraced a grassroots approach, screening the documentary at small independent theaters and reaching out to organizations such as the International Owl Center, owl enthusiasts, and local wildlife rehabilitators to help connect the film with audiences already passionate about birds and wildlife.
Ultimately, Wild Inside is much more than the story of a famous owl. Flaco becomes the catalyst for a larger examination of our relationship with wild animals: our desire to protect them, our fascination with them, our tendency to project our own ideas of freedom onto them, and the hazards we unintentionally create for them. Flaco may have stopped New York, but the questions his remarkable year of freedom raised extend far beyond the city.