A man who was targeted with false accusations by a woman in New York’s Central Park in 2020 has now been given his own TV show about birds on National Geographic.
After he was the subject of a viral encounter with a woman who – erroneously – thought that he was up to something, Cooper has now received the good news that he’ll be presenting a show all about his lifelong love - bird watching.
Christian Cooper is a birdwatcher who was wrongly accused of ‘threatening’ a woman and her dog for basically no reason – he asked her to leash her dog – a couple of years ago, when he was just on the lookout for birds in his home town.
Amy Cooper – same surname, no relation – called the cops, saying the 59-year-old was threatening her and her dog.
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She told 911 dispatchers: "I'm in the Ramble. And there is a man, African American — he has a bicycle helmet.
“He's recording me and threatening me and my dog."
She was later charged with a third-degree misdemeanour, although that was later dropped because she had no criminal past and completed five restorative justice sessions, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
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Anyway, the good news is that Cooper will now present a show on National Geographic called Extraordinary Birder, in which he’ll be able to share his love of (nearly) all things avian with viewers.
According to the network, the programme will showcase the ‘wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds’.
In a statement, National Geographic wrote: "Whether braving stormy seas in Alaska for puffins, trekking into rainforests in Puerto Rico for parrots, or scaling a bridge in Manhattan for a peregrine falcon, he does whatever it takes to learn about these extraordinary feathered creatures and show us the remarkable world in the sky above."
So far, we haven’t got a date for the show starting, but Cooper is well up for it.
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He started watching birds at the age of 10 and said he ‘was all in’ when the network approached him about being involved in his own TV show about a year and a half ago.
He told the New York Times: "I love spreading the gospel of birding.”
Well, here comes his chance, as the show will provide a happy ending for Cooper after what must have started as a pretty horrible experience.
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Fans seem excited too, as one wrote: “I love this story, in part because it rights a wrong but also because this sounds really interesting!”
Another said: “So happy for this man!! He was above that behavior in Central Park! He loves birds & that’s why he was there.
“He simply asked that woman to leash her dog! Bravo for his success!”
A third simply said: “Congratulations Christian! Looking forward to the show.”
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Topics: US News, Film and TV, Animals, New York
Tom Wood