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| Jackie the Big Bear bald eagle has died. Necropsy, cause of death, veterinarian, california, eagle, fish & wildlife, san diego zoo |
ORIGINAL: Everyone has heard the sad news that Jackie the bald eagle patient Bald Eagle 26-519 passed away today at Ojai Raptor Center. They announced the news August 10, 2026 at 12:28 pm. When I first noticed that her mate Shadow was doing all the chick feeding I thought something was wrong. Like many I thought she might be weak from having a second clutch and being an older eagle at 14 years of age. Average life span of bald eagles is 15-25.
When I heard news July 18 that she was rescued on the ground and ended up at Ojai Raptor Center I was relieved. We've known Ojai Raptor center for over 20 years and always refer birds of prey to them. They have a very knowledgeable staff. I knew that many raptor experts from around the country and world would be helping them with world famous Jackie.
Ojai Raptor did xrays, contrast CT Scans, bone marrow sample, daily blood draws, blood transfusion, gave medications, did a biopsy. Her packed cell volume (PCV) fell below 6%. She had kidney inflamation and had anemia. Of course after she was taken into care many people were offering care and treatment suggestions. Ojai Raptor had to turn off comments for this reason. Some comments were not very nice attacking Ojai Raptor's treatment decisions. Since Jackie has died even more people are criticizing their care.
We did a State Information Act Request to the California Department of Fish & Wildlife to get a copy of the necropsy report and all related documents, data, image and files August 10, 2026 at 1:00 pm. They are probably doing the necropsy today if not tomorrow just like they did with P-22. As soon as we get this information we will post it here. It'll probably take at least 30 days for full toxicology and report. Hopefully this report and information will give us some answers and closure. We did the same with P22. We've done necropsies on many other wildife who have died. The purpose is education to help other animals. Ojai Raptor is not doing the necropsy. It's being done by the San Diego Zoo Alliance.
We'd like to preface this next paragraph by stating we are not bird of prey veterinarians. While we have rescued and treated wild mammals for over 20 years we are not avian experts. We have a protocol for treating ill and injured animals including wildlife. Here is that protocol linked below. Keep in mind when Jackie was first found on the ground she was dehydrated, emaciated and weak. She was instantly put in an ICU ward. Many people have asked us our take on the care of Jackie. I have deferred to Ojai Raptor as I am not a bird expert and have never seen the patient.
Some have criticized Ojai Raptor because of the many invasive tests they did some of which necessitated that Jackie be put under anesthesia multiple times which can be stressful and dangerous. They also criticized the fact that she was treated for illnesses which they were not 100% certain she had. She was given a few different types of medications for rodenticide poisoning, lead poisoning...before they had the results of the lead test. We can definitely state that we'd never want to take care of a famous wild animal. There is so much stress to do everything you can to save the animal while doing what's best for the animal especially when they had no clear diagnosis. We ordered the necropsy so everyone can see the facts of the case and come to their own conclusion.
We will have the necropsy report soon enough. We personally feel Jackie probably died of a combination of her age and having two clutches in quick succession while having to fight off other eagles in her territory. We doubt it's rodenticide because bald eagle's mainly eat fish then small mammals and other birds. The lead test already came back negative so it wasn't lead. Maybe there were some underlying toxins in her system or possibly even blood cancer. We won't know until we see the necropsy.
Ojai Raptor Center just posted a page about Jackie and her treatment August 11, 2026 at 2:30 pm.
California Department of Fish & Wildlife release news about Jackie August 11, 2026 at 12:30 pm.
"Following a necropsy performed by veterinary pathologists at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the eagle’s remains will be transported to the National Eagle Repository, a one-of-a-kind facility operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement."
A related note. There are a ton of fake Jackie veterinary photos floating around. They're AI. Only the ones in the Ojai Raptor page are real. There are also a ton of sites selling Jackie tshirts saying they will give money to Ojai. They are all fake. Ojai isn't selling any Jackie shirts. They are not working with any organization or business to sell Jackie shirts. Only buy items from Ojai Raptor's store https://www.ojairaptorcenter.org/shop or Friends of Big Bear Valley https://friendsofbigbearvalley.org/product-category/shopping Better yet make your own tribute shirt and donate to wildlife rehabilitators.
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