Updated

Updated · San Bernardino County Sun · Jul 19

Rescuers Transfer Injured Big Bear Eagle Likely Jackie to Ojai Facility After 2 a.m. Rescue

Updated

Updated · San Bernardino County Sun · Jul 19

Rescuers Transfer Injured Big Bear Eagle Likely Jackie to Ojai Facility After 2 a.m. Rescue

Q: What is the real reason behind the celebrity eagle's dramatic grounding and fight for survival?

The immediate trigger appears to have been a fight with two younger bald eagles over a fish and possibly territory, but the deeper cause of Jackie’s collapse is still not confirmed. Videos and eyewitness accounts show the adult eagle, believed by Friends of Big Bear Valley to be Jackie, on the ground near Dana Point Park battling two subadult eagles trying to take her fish. She defended herself with her talons, but what alarmed rescuers was that she stayed grounded for hours afterward and could not fly away normally. That suggests the fight was likely a stress event that exposed a more serious problem rather than the sole cause. At the Ojai Raptor Center, veterinarians found no major obvious external injuries, but the bird was weak and is being treated for malnourishment. Blood work and toxicology tests are underway to determine whether illness, poisoning, starvation, or another underlying condition left her too compromised to recover after the encounter. So, the best-supported answer is that Jackie’s dramatic grounding was linked to an eagle-on-eagle confrontation, while her fight for survival now centers on whatever underlying medical issue caused her weakness and inability to leave the ground. Until test results are back, any more precise explanation would be speculation.

3 articles · Updated · San Bernardino County Sun · Jul 19

Friends of Big Bear Valley said videos and rehab-center images indicate the injured adult eagle rescued over the weekend is likely Jackie, the female from the widely watched Big Bear pair.
Hours after fighting two subadult eagles over a fish near Dana Point Park, the bird remained grounded until the San Dimas Raptor Rescue Team reached it around 2 a.m. Saturday.
Ojai Raptor Center is now de-stressing, stabilizing and testing the eagle, including blood work, while Los Angeles County Parks said its identity and sex are still not officially confirmed.
Jackie has been absent from the Big Bear nest cameras for several days, strengthening Friends of Big Bear Valley's belief that the rescued bird is her.
Jackie and mate Shadow are known to thousands of livestream viewers who followed eaglets Sandy and Luna as they fledged in late June, and the group hopes she can eventually be released back to her home territory.