Jackie died in the overnight hours of Aug. 9 while receiving intensive medical care at the Ojai Raptor Center, ending more than three weeks of treatment for the Big Bear bald eagle that drew a following through the nest camera watched by fans of Jackie and Shadow.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Jackie had a large blood clot in her wing and kidney, liver abnormalities, lung abnormalities and an inadequate bone marrow response. She had already been diagnosed with anemia and kidney inflammation, and after 23 days in treatment she could not keep food down. Her packed cell volume then fell sharply, a sign that her body was losing the ability to move oxygen through the blood.
That decline came after veterinarians used a contrast CT scan, a bone marrow biopsy and specialized testing for heavy metals, then worked with specialists across the country to sort through the findings. The exact cause of her illness has still not been publicly identified, which is why a necropsy will now be done by veterinary pathologists at the San Diego Wildlife Alliance.
Jackie’s death matters beyond one bird because she was one half of a pair people had been following closely in Big Bear Lake. Friends of Big Bear Valley said it does not have any input on how her remains are handled, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said they will be sent to the National Eagle Repository in Colorado in compliance with federal law. The repository is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Law Enforcement and distributes eagle remains, parts and feathers to enrolled members of federally recognized tribes for religious, cultural and ceremonial purposes.
What happens around Shadow is now the other question hanging over the territory. Jenny Voisard said another juvenile hopped into the nest yesterday and that quite a few visiting eagles are in the area right now, making it hard to predict whether Shadow will stay. She said he was very set on being in the territory when he arrived in 2018, but that history does not make the next move any easier to read. For the people who have tracked Jackie for years, the immediate answer is painful and plain: she is gone, and the next chapter will depend on the necropsy and on whether Shadow chooses to remain.
