The Federal Court of Appeal will hear arguments from a B.C. ostrich farm Tuesday as it seeks to protect its herd from a cull ordered due to the avian flu, in a case that has sparked accusations of government overreach from critics in Canada and the U.S.
Universal Ostrich in Edgewood, B.C., was ordered to cull over 400 birds after highly pathogenic avian flu was detected on the farm last December.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) ordered the cull as part of a stamping-out policy to deal with the disease, which led to over eight million birds being infected in B.C. alone, with the agency arguing that they pose a risk of spreading the virus, affecting Canada’s food security.
Universal Ostrich has argued, however, that avian flu hasn’t been detected on the farm in months, and birds should be tested for their ability to resist further infection.
The owners of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., have been fighting an order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to cull their flock after it was hit with an avian flu outbreak last year.
While their cause has captured the attention of supporters in B.C. and around the world — including U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz — a Federal Court judge sided with the CFIA after the farm filed a court challenge in May.
On Tuesday, the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa will hear the farm’s arguments again, having ordered the cull be paused pending the outcome of the one-day hearing.
“There’s a lot of people really looking forward to joining us in Ottawa,” said farm spokesperson Katie Pasitney, whose mother, Karen Espersen, co-owns Universal Ostrich.
Pasitney says that her farm’s fight to save the ostrich herd is part of a push to bring about policy reform and prevent unjust culls, which she says are negatively affecting Canada’s small farmers.
“We want to test the animals, prove that they’re healthy, work with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as a recovered flock, see how we can help farms in in the future, so that we don’t need to keep needlessly killing animals,” she told Brady Strachan, guest host of CBC’s Radio West.
An embattled B.C. ostrich farm is getting support from south of the border. As Brady Strachan reports, a couple of high-profile officials within the U.S. administration have met with Canadian authorities and asked them to preserve the ostriches for scientific research.
Pasitney has maintained that Universal Ostrich’s birds haven’t shown symptoms of avian influenza for months after dozens died following a detection in early December.
The Federal Court of Appeal previously refused to let the farm perform further diagnostic tests on its birds.
In a ruling in May that allowed the CFIA’s cull to proceed, Federal Court Justice Russel Zinn wrote that while he has “considerable sympathy” for the farmers, he also found that the cull was ordered following proper procedure under the CFIA’s mandate to prevent the spread of avian flu.
