BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. — Avian flu caused the death of a bald eagle named Jackie, who became an Internet sensation and a symbol of the species’ recovery in California, officials said.
An autopsy and additional testing revealed that the primary underlying cause of Jackie’s death in August was highly pathogenic avian influenza, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a news release Wednesday.
In the weeks before her death, Jackie was being treated at the Ojai Raptor Center for various illnesses, including anemia. Chris Eksteen, director of the center, said in the news release that the autopsy results “helped connect many of the findings” observed during his hospitalization.
“In a rare presentation of the virus, the infection caused a severe stomach ulcer that led to persistent internal bleeding, anemia and the development of bacterial septicemia,” Steve Kubiski, director of disease investigations at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, where the necropsy was performed, said in the press release.
For more than a decade, nature lovers watched via an online video stream as Jackie and her partner, Shadow, tended their treetop nest each year near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains, east of Los Angeles. There is no evidence that Shadow is ill, according to the press 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 is circulating among bird populations across the United States. While waterfowl and shorebirds are natural hosts of the avian flu virus, eagles and other raptors can be exposed through contact with or eating infected birds, according to the press release.
Jackie’s remains were cremated to prevent transmission of the virus, it says.
American bald eagles were 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 species list.
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