A B.C. ostrich farm has lost its case to save its birds from a cull order issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in January.
The decision was released today by the Federal Court of Appeal.
The case has attracted the attention of U.S. Secretary of Health, Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., who has called on the Canadian government to save the birds.
The CFIA ordered the cull after two dead birds on the Universal Ostrich farm in Edgewood, B.C., tested positive for avian flu.
But the farm’s owners and their supporters have tried to make the case that the surviving birds should be allowed to live, and potentially studied to see if the birds could provide insight into how to fight the disease.
They have also argued that ostriches should not be treated the same as other poultry, and tried to get an order for fresh testing of the surviving birds to determine whether avian flu is still circulating.
CFIA has authority to order cull, courts say
The case first made its way to federal court in April, with the judge ultimately ruling that the CFIA had the authority to make decisions about how to manage the threat of avian flu, and it was not the place of the courts to second-guess those processes. Instead, the ruling stated, it had to make sure the CFIA had followed its own policies, which it had.
The farm then appealed that case, but the ruling released today was much the same.
“The appellant [Universal Ostrich] is encouraging the Court to use the fresh evidence to re-decide the CFIA’s decisions based on what it claims is the situation today,” the ruling reads.
After hours of arguments, the fate of a now-famous B.C. ostrich flock that was ordered to be culled after an avian flu outbreak now rests with the Federal Court of Appeal. The Universal Ostrich Farm has received support from activists and prominent figures in the Trump administration.
“That is not our role. We are only tasked with reviewing the reasonableness of the CFIA’s decisions at the time they were made, which is the essence of the judicial review remedy.”
It then detailed the steps that had been taken by the CFIA to make the decision about the cull order, and took note of the fact that, contrary to the claims of Universal Ostrich, the agency had existing research and policies surrounding ostriches based on scientific evidence.
Farm calls for supporters to gather this weekend
In a statement to Facebook, Katie Pasitney, the farm’s spokesperson, called the news “devastating.”
“At any moment, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency could come and kill our healthy ostriches,” she wrote, adding that the farm plans to file for a stay order to prevent that from happening, while admitting the odds of success are “very low.”
“For 219 days, our flock has remained strong, vibrant, and healthy,” she said. “The CFIA has not set foot on our farm in over five months, but still claims there is a threat here.”
She said the farm would be opening its gates to any and all supporters over the weekend, writing, “If you feel called, come camp with us… Together, we can stand against destruction and shine a light of love.”
Front BurnerCan RFK Jr. save B.C.’s death row ostriches?
A New York City billionaire and conservative talk radio host. Two of the most vocally antivax members of Donald Trump’s administration. Protesters associated with the “Freedom Convoy” that occupied downtown Ottawa in 2022. What do they have in common?
They all want to save a herd of more than 400 ostriches on a small farm in rural B.C.
Earlier this year, Universal Ostrich Farms was ordered to cull their remaining birds after an outbreak of avian flu killed dozens of them. But the farm has been fighting the government’s order in court, claiming the ostriches’ antibodies are crucial for research into alternatives to traditional vaccines.
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, a reporter with Canada’s National Observer, explains why the farm’s story has spread so widely through the right-wing media ecosystem, finding so much synergy with vaccine skepticism, climate denial, and other conspiracy theories about shadowy bids for global control.
