A Eurasian eagle owl named Gladys died from accidents sustained in an unknown accident, the Minnesota Zoo mentioned Thursday. Gladys, who had escaped from the zoo earlier this month, was reportedly discovered on a roadside by a involved citizen and delivered to the zoo. “Our veterinary team responded immediately but, sadly, Gladys had already died,” the zoo mentioned in a statement posted to Twitter.

“We’d like to thank the community for the tremendous outpouring of support and information they provided to aide in the search for Gladys,” the assertion learn. “The Animal Care team hand-raised her from a chick, and worked with her daily. This is a difficult day for our team.”

Gladys, 5 years previous, was one of many Minnesota Zoo’s animal ambassadors, utilized by the zoo to show the general public about her species. Comfortably one of many largest owl species on the planet, Eurasian eagle owls stay throughout northern Europe and Asia. They have shiny orange eyes and 6.5-foot wingspans. (For reference, the wingspans of the biggest Canadian geese are about a foot shorter than these of those owls.)

Gladys escaped the Minnesota Zoo in early October throughout a routine coaching session that allowed the owl to stretch her wings; as a substitute of returning to her handler, Gladys stayed up within the bushes for a number of days. Zoo officers overlooked her late final week and requested residents in the local people of Apple Valley to maintain their eyes peeled for the fowl, noting that she didn’t pose a menace to people. Since then, quite a few sightings of Gladys had been reported, with Twin Cities residents sharing audio clips of hooting on their residence safety gadgets as nicely as pictures of birds resembling the large owl on social media. One particular person shared a photo on Facebook of an owl that zoo officers mentioned shared “many of Gladys’ traits.” In the picture, the owl is seen clutching what seems to be a useless cat.

Though Gladys apparently posed no menace to folks, maybe we posed a menace to her. The zoo didn’t state what precipitated Gladys’ accidents. All we all know is that, by the point the owl was discovered by the roadside, it was too late.

Fly off to that closing freedom, Gladys. You actually had been an envoy in your species.