Never before have the millions of fans of Jackie the bald eagle been more worried about her future. USA TODAY looks at what could be wrong as a raptor center awaits bloodwork and other tests.
Big Bear eagle live cam draws emotion as eaglets hatch and grow
Viewers around the world follow the Big Bear eagle family in California, sharing emotional moments as their story unfolds live.
Jackie, the bald eagle of Big Bear Lake in Southern California, has always inspired awe.
First it was a handful of locals who watched her grow up, build nests and create a life. Now her fans number in the millions from all over the world, thanks to a camera that has been livestreaming her nest since 2015.
Jackie’s fans have watched the highs and lows of nature as she mates with her steadfast partner Shadow, lays or loses eggs, raises eaglets, fights off predators, braves winter storms, and hunts for fish. But never have Jackie’s fans been more worried about the future as they are now.
The 14-year-old bald eagle is 170 miles from her home, being assessed and treated at the Ojai Raptor Center after being rescued following an altercation with two subadult eagles, though it seems she’s suffering from something more complicated that preceded the fight. Video showed her apparently struggling out of water near the lake, looking far from the fierce mother her fans have come to know.
The raptor center says that Jackie is in critical condition and underweight, with severe anemia and inflammation affecting her kidneys. They are awaiting further blood tests to help understand what’s wrong with her.
On the positive side, Jackie is eating and exhibiting spunk by fighting staff members working to care for her, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the group that runs Jackie’s livestream and looks out for her and the rest of the eagle family.
As Jackie’s fans fret about her health and future, USA TODAY talked to a bald eagle expert in Alaska who treats up to 150 of the majestic raptors every year. We found out what could be wrong with Jackie and what treatments she may undergo before she can hopefully get back home.
Rodenticide and metal poisoning
Rodenticide and metal poisoning are among some of the worst threats to bald eagles all over the United States.
Rodenticide poisoning happens when humans try to control populations of mice, rats, gophers and other rodents using chemical agents to kill them. Bald eagles and other creatures, including mountain lions, coyotes, owls, and even household pets, can then eat the resulting dead rodents and become poisoned themselves, said Jennifer Cedarleaf, avian director at the Alaska Raptor Center, which has treated up to 150 bald eagles in one year.
The result is agonizing, with animals slowly bleeding to death without treatment, she told USA TODAY.
Poisoning from metals like lead and zinc is just as bad. Bald eagles and other wildlife suffer great pain when they ingest things like lead from bullets or fishing weights, Cedarleaf said, adding that the treatment can be just as uncomfortable, likening it to chemotherapy for humans.
“It breaks my heart every time I see it,” she said. “It is absolutely the worst thing to see.”
Both conditions are treatable depending on the amount of toxins the eagle has ingested. But if it’s too much, the most humane option for the raptors is euthanasia, she said.
Last year, the Ojai Raptor Center successfully rehabbed and released a juvenile eagle suffering from rodenticide after providing Vitamin K therapy. The eagle, suspected to be one of Jackie’s offspring named Sunny, arrived at the facility in critical condition, so emaciated and weak that she couldn’t hold her head up, the raptor center said.
“Her prognosis was very poor,” the center said. Several months later, the eagle was back in the wild and is flourishing.
Other human causes: Shooting, animal traps, electrical lines
At the Alaska Raptor Center, Cedarleaf said that humans are responsible for most of the eagle injuries they treat. In addition to rodenticide and metal poisoning, they see eagles that have been electrocuted or otherwise hurt after running into power lines, hit by vehicles, shot against the law, or injured in leghold traps meant for mink, martens, and wolves.
Electrocutions and other power line injuries are tough to survive. Those injured by traps can be treated depending on the severity, including amputation, but gunshot wounds are frequently a death sentence, Cedarleaf said.
The Ojai Raptor Center alone gets an average of one to two birds every week suffering from gunshot injuries, including a red-tailed hawk who had been shot seven times and not only had to contend with those wounds but also lead poisoning from the bullets.
“Not only are the injuries and the treatment itself incredibly traumatic to wildlife patients suffering gunshot wounds, but many raptors mate for life, and Spring is the breeding season for many different species, including Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks,” the group said in March 2024. “After mated Red-tailed Hawk pairs build their nest together, the female incubates the eggs while the males bring the female food. It is very unlikely that a single female, or male, can, or will successfully incubate eggs while having to feed themselves and her babies alone − which is also the case other raptor species.”
Why would someone want to shoot an amazing creature like a bald eagle or a red-tailed hawk? The same reason that children recently were found hitting a young great horned owl with baseball bats.
“The cruelty of humans is unbelievable,” Cedarleaf said.
Fights among other birds can injure, kill eagles
Bald eagles also face injury or death from their own kind and other predatory birds. Their fights can be brutal.
Cedarleaf recalled once having to separate two eagles who had been in a battle so fierce that they had the other bird’s talons embedded in them. Sometimes, eagles will lock talons in the air and spin downward, known as tumbling.
“Sometimes they let go in enough time but sometimes they don’t and they hit the water or land, and one or both can die.”
Talon injuries can be treated with antibiotics.
What is happening with Jackie now?
The wildlife experts treating Jackie are awaiting bloodwork results and diagnostic test results that would likely show whether she could be suffering from rodenticide or metal poisoning. They say that X-rays showed no signs of metal objects like fishing hooks.
“While the eagle remains alert and is eating, it is still too early to predict the outcome,” the Ojai Raptor Center said on July 21. “Wildlife medicine takes time, and some answers simply cannot be rushed.”
The uncertainty has eagle lovers stressing.
“Prayers that she pulls through this awfulness,” Jackie lover Bonne Lass of wrote on the raptor center post. “She is needed by Shadow and her eaglets, and so dearly loved by millions of people.”
Cedarleaf, who has experienced the joy of rehabbing wild eagles back to health and the agony of euthanizing those who can’t be saved, said she doesn’t have any inside knowledge of Jackie’s troubles. But from where she’s sitting, she doesn’t think her fans should despair too much.
“I’m pretty hopeful,” she said. “I’m hopeful that she’ll get back out there.”
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the death penalty, cold case investigations, breaking news − and sometimes eagles − for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
