Scammers try to cash in on death of California's beloved bald eagle Jackie

Don Sweeney, The Sacramento Bee on Aug 18, 2026

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Scammers are using the death of a beloved California bald eagle for a get-rich-quick scheme involving sales of bogus merchandise benefiting the raptor center where she died.

Jackie, who gained worldwide fame from a bald eagle cam on her nest at Big Bear Lake, died Aug. 10 at the Ojai Raptor Center, where she had been taken to recover after falling ill following a fight with two other bald eagles, the center said.

Now some scams are claiming that sales of merchandise featuring Jackie will benefit the center, the Ojai Raptor Center warned in an Aug. 13 post to Facebook.

“We have an official online shop where we sell Ojai Raptor Center merchandise, but we do not create or sell merchandise featuring Jackie or any other individual patient,” the center said.

Friends of Big Bear Valley, which operates the live cams that featured Jackie, is the only organization to approach the center about a joint merchandising campaign, but the center declined, officials said.

The center encouraged backers to support it through purchases of its own merchandise, purchases from official Amazon wishlists or donations.

Friends of Big Bear Valley announced Monday that their own online shop had run out of merchandise featuring Jackie.

The organization said it will not be taking new orders until it has finished fulfilling existing orders.

Jackie and her mate, Shadow, had been together since 2018. Their efforts to hatch and raise offspring at their nest in Big Bear Valley in Southern California became popular with millions of live cam viewers.

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