Bird flu caused the death of Jackie, a California bald eagle who captured hearts
Oct 15, 2026, 9:56 AM
FILE - Jackie the bald eagle is examined on July 18, 2026, at the Los Angeles County Parks San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center in San Dimas, Calif. (Los Angeles County Parks San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center via AP, File)
Credit: Los Angeles County Parks San Dim via AP
(Los Angeles County Parks San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center via AP, File)
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Bird flu caused the death of a bald eagle named Jackie who had become an internet sensation and a symbol of the species’ recovery in California, officials said.
A necropsy and additional testing found that the primary underlying cause of Jackie’s death in August was highly pathogenic avian influenza, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Wednesday in a news release.
In the weeks before she died, Jackie was being treated at the Ojai Raptor Center for various ailments, including anemia. Chris Eksteen, the center’s director, said in the news release that the necropsy results “have helped connect many of the findings” they saw during her hospitalization.
“In an uncommon presentation of the virus, the infection caused a severe ulcer in her stomach that led to persistent internal bleeding, anemia, and the development of bacterial sepsis,” Steve Kubiski, the disease investigations director at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, where the necropsy was conducted, said in the news release.
For more than a decade, nature lovers watched via an online video feed as Jackie and her partner, Shadow, tended to their nest each year atop trees near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles. There’s no evidence Shadow is ill, according to the news release.
The nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley installed the nest camera in 2015 and documented the successes and failures of each breeding season.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been circulating in bird populations throughout the U.S. While waterfowl and shorebirds are natural hosts for bird flu viruses, eagles and other raptors can be exposed through contact with infected birds or by eating them, according to the news release.
Jackie’s remains were cremated to prevent transmission of the virus, it said.
American bald eagles teetered on the brink of extinction until the pesticide DDT was banned in the 1970s and other protections were established, leading the species to rebound and be removed from the federal endangered list.
