Wildlife Experts Stunned to Find That Bird Flu Killed Jackie, the Beloved, Internet-Famous Bald Eagle – USFTB

When Jackie, a beloved bald eagle who captured hearts across the country thanks to a livestream of her nest, died in August after several weeks in intensive care at the Ojai Raptor Center in California, experts were baffled by what had caused her mysterious illness. Now, a necropsy has revealed that bird flu was to blame, according to an October 14 statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

The finding has caught scientists by surprise and underscores how the illness is causing devastation among wildlife populations across the United States.

Bird flu, or highly pathogenic avian influenza, is a contagious viral disease. As implied, it primarily spreads among birds, but one strain of the virus, H5N1, has been wreaking havoc in other animals, including dairy cows and wild mammals, in recent years. It has even reached isolated regions like Tasmania, Iceland and Antarctica. In rare cases, humans can also contract this strain of bird flu; symptoms include eye redness, a cough and a sore throat.

Eagles aren’t natural hosts for the virus. They’re usually exposed to it through contact with infected birds, common carriers being waterfowl and shorebirds, or by eating infected prey. While bird flu was spreading among bald eagles in 2022, when more than 300 of the raptors tested positive for the illness, there isn’t currently an outbreak among the animals. That’s why experts are surprised by the cause of Jackie’s death.

“Nobody knew this was even a probability,” says William Bowerman, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Maryland, to Jeanine Santucci at USA Today. In the spring, California even declared that bird flu was no longer impacting the state’s poultry industry, he adds. “Her case gave us more science than we were expecting.”

Jackie hatched in the spring of 2012 in Big Bear Valley, California. A few years later, the nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley installed a camera near her parents’ nest, which Jackie eventually took over. Viewers followed along as she and her recent mate, Shadow, raised chicks and carried out their daily activities among the San Bernardino Mountains. They became internet stars during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This past July, however, Jackie was taken to the Ojai Raptor Center after she was seen in a ground fight with two young eagles. She was unable to fly.

“The adult eagle that we picked up was sick, very sick,” a San Dimas Raptor Rescue official told KCAL News’ Dean Fioresi at the time. “There were no physical injuries, so we were able to do a quick assessment; look at her wings and stuff like that. There was nothing obvious, but she was very skinny and underweight.”

Experts deemed that she had probably been ill for a while. Still, Jackie’s symptoms were unusual for bird flu.

“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,” says Steve Kubiski, director of disease investigations at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in the statement.

“You would not expect that bird flu would have been the cause for her decline just based on her symptoms,” Bowerman tells USA Today.

No evidence currently suggests that Shadow or the eaglets are sick.

While there are still unanswered questions surrounding Jackie’s death, like how she contracted the virus in the first place, one thing is clear: She continues to have an impact. “The story of the Big Bear bald eagle reflects the powerful connection people feel to these iconic birds,” says CDFW Director Meghan Hertel in the statement.

“We’re grateful to everyone who cared for her and worked to support her well-being,” she adds. “Understanding the results of these tests is an important part of learning from this case and can help inform the care and treatment of other eagles and wildlife in the future.”

Jackie was cremated following the investigation to prevent the transmission of the illness.