Remains of famed bald eagle Jackie will go to tribes. Some fans are fighting it

LOS ANGELES — When celebrity bald eagle Jackie died this month, Sandra Sehl didn’t know what would happen to her remains.

Like many, Sehl, 53, was a devoted fan of the raptor and her mate, Shadow, who were made world-famous by a nonstop livestream of their nest. The Connecticut resident began watching about seven years ago, and the duo helped deliver her through difficult times, including the death of her mother — a past president of the Hartford Audubon Society who imparted a love of bird-watching to her daughter.

Sehl learned that Jackie would be sent to the National Eagle Repository — as are virtually all recovered carcasses of bald and golden eagles in the country. In the early 1970s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the facility to provide members of federally recognized Native American tribes with eagle feathers, parts and whole bodies for religious use.

It’s not what Sehl wants for Jackie — and she’s not alone. News of Jackie’s fate has divided her millions-strong fan base. Some, like Sehl, want Jackie to go back to her natal digs in Big Bear. Yet many others, including the nonprofit that runs the livestream, believe her rightful place is in tribal hands.

Sehl launched a Change.org petition asking officials to pause their plans and determine whether Jackie could be returned “through an appropriate educational, scientific, conservation or memorial arrangement.” It has more than 500 signatures, and similar petitions are floating around online.

In an interview, Sehl said she envisioned Jackie being taxidermied alongside a mock nest, allowing people to “see her and know her story.”

“I just want to give her a chance to go back home,” she said. “I think that’s where she would want to go.”

Sherri Griffin, another Jackie fan, called out those asking for special treatment for the Big Bear raptor in a Facebook post. It has 14,000 likes.

“[W]hen petitions started asking for Jackie to be exempted — because she was famous, because we all loved her — a few of us pointed out that this is, functionally, asking a hard-won Indigenous legal right to bend for public sentiment… or essentially structural racism,” she wrote.

Describing the origins of the repository, Jack E. Davis, in his 2022 book “The Bald Eagle,” explains that the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 — passed following widespread slaughter of the birds in the 19th century — criminalized many Native American traditions. (The act was expanded to include golden eagles in 1962.)

“Although the Bald Eagle Protection Act enabled the winged monarch to resettle eagledoms and establish new ones, the law failed to protect traditional Native relationships with the bird,” he writes. For instance, young Lenape men no longer could scale mountains to secure an eagle’s tail feather. Davis describes the repository as “a place of understanding and resolution, a tangible commitment on the part of the United States to tribal spiritual beliefs and practice.”

While most eagles go to the repository, there are rare exceptions. Pete Bloom, a raptor biologist, successfully made the case to study lead levels in the bones of a deceased golden eagle in its 20s because of its advanced age.

“I’m basically good with the way the repository works, but I think it should be a little more open to specific cases,” such as certain scientific research, he said. However, he said making an exception for Jackie could open up a can of worms. (For the record, Bloom avoids referring to the famed eagle by name and opposes naming wild birds.)

Other eagles star in livestreams, and he expects their fans would make similar requests.

“They’re going to try to have it mounted and saved in their local library or whatever,” he said. “I’m not terribly wedded to the idea that none of them could go to those facilities, but the problem is you now have an additional management issue — with not only designating who gets one and who doesn’t but then making sure it stays there.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to questions about the repository by deadline.

The controversy over Jackie’s final resting place is striking because in life, the raptor was a unifying force. She attracted viewers across the political and age spectrum — a feat in these divisive times.

Yet since she was rescued in bad shape in mid-July and transferred to the Ojai Raptor Center for treatment, schisms have formed. Some turned on her caretakers, demanding more updates and accusing them of withholding information. Since Jackie’s death, a young, likely female eagle (whom Bloom helped band) has spent time with Shadow, sparking further controversy among fans.

As someone who covered Jackie and Shadow closely for a year, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking not just about the eagles but also those who love them. About the mythos surrounding them and those who helped create it.

I wonder if this is the double-edged sword of anthropomorphizing a wild animal. On one hand, the devotion can spur real action. Recently, Friends of Big Bear Valley — the nonprofit behind the livestream — successfully raised more than $10 million to buy and conserve land near the eagle’s nest.

On the other hand, it might create a false sense of ownership or closeness to the eagles. “It’s a good reason for not naming animals,” Bloom said of the infighting. “People get too involved.”

Jenny Voisard, spokesperson for Friends of Big Bear Valley, rejected the idea that worldbuilding around the eagles is to blame, noting their storytelling is grounded in science. Instead, she pointed to an algorithm that amplifies outrage and people’s own issues. She summed it up: “Virality is difficult.”

“In no way does this compare to the sheer volume of positive understanding and healing that goes on,” she added. “This just seems like a sideshow distraction.”

The nonprofit hopes that Jackie’s remains will go to Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, a tribe that was forced out of Big Bear Valley. But Voisard acknowledged it’s not up to them.

In the meantime, the nonprofit is discussing a possible memorial with local agencies.