Charlie was blind in one eye. He couldn't hunt on his own. He was raised in captivity. And he loved a good head-scratching.
The great horned owl disappeared on Aug. 5, escaping his enclosure at the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon during Debby.
Soon, Charlie was all over the news.
His owner, Nancy Murrah, spread the word that Charlie had straps on his legs — falconry equipment — and couldn't fly far. He might be on the ground and helpless, she said.
The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay knocked on hundreds of doors, handed out 2,000 flyers, and posted pictures and videos on social media.
You could see his big yellow eyes, and hear him vocalizing in a mellow way as he perched on a branch and spread his wings.
Almost two weeks passed. Tips poured in. People found other kinds of owls. But no Charlie.
Then Bethany Mattacchione spotted the big brown owl on the ground in her backyard, about a mile from the Raptor Center.
Murrah came running to get him.
"She offered him a rat and wrapped him up in her arms. It was the sweetest thing, like he was a little baby, and he just kind of rested in her arms. She could tell he was very weak. It was very moving," recalled Mattacchione.
Back at home, Charlie did better for a couple days. But then he died in the middle of the night. Just slipped away. Sometimes that happens when an animal's been through so much.
"It is with a breaking heart that we tell you that Charlie passed away unexpectedly overnight," Murrah wrote on Facebook Thursday, a posted that garnered thousands of reactions. More than 500 wrote messages of condolences.
"People we didn't know last week are now our friends. People who didn't know there were owls in their neighborhood now see them at night. A great example of a community coming together to help a lost owl," Murrah wrote.
Of course, Mattacchione wishes she'd found him sooner. But she marveled at how his disappearance brought so many people together.
"It was sweet. It makes me feel like I'm in the right community," she said.
The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay is a nonprofit that says it rescues about 1,000 birds of prey each year.
