A fellow feminine eagle named Spirit got here to Jackie’s help in her critical time of want.
Jackie continues to obtain specialised remedy after she was discovered on the bottom close to Big Bear Lake following a battle with different eagles.
In addition to the community of veterinary groups engaged on Jackie’s case, the eagle received assist from an sudden supply: a fellow eagle.
Spirit is a resident at CALM Zoo in Bakersfield and has referred to as the ability residence since May 2003, when she was transferred from one other wildlife rehabilitation facility after being rescued by Animal Control.
At that point, CALM Zoo says Spirit “was found unable to fly due to wing fractures, was severely emaciated, had been scavenging for food, and had suffered trauma to her right eye. After a lengthy healing process, Spirit was determined to be non-releasable because of the long-term effects of her injuries.”
Since then, Spirit has been a staple resident on the zoo, serving to educate guests about California’s native wildlife.
The senior director of CALM Zoo mentioned Spirit was fastidiously evaluated earlier than donating blood to Jackie.
Meg Maitland described the method used to find out whether or not Spirit was an appropriate donor.
“Essentially, you look at our records we go through and make sure weight wise and health wise that Spirit would be good to go to be able to draw blood from and that was determined that she was good to go, and it was going to have a minimal impact on her and so between our veterinarian teams they decided the amount,” Maitland mentioned.
The zoo described the process as “a minimally invasive blood draw” from Spirit.
Volunteers from the Ojai Raptor Center then traveled to Bakersfield to retrieve the blood and transport it again for Jackie.
“After her quick procedure, Spirit was rewarded with some extra trout for doing her part to help another eagle in need,” the zoo mentioned on social media.
Maitland mentioned she has been inspired by the outpouring of help Jackie has received from folks throughout the nation.
In a candy coincidence, one in every of Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets she had in 2022 was named Spirit by native third graders.
