The Federal Court of Appeal has denied an application for another stay order to delay a cull of about 400 ostriches at a British Columbia farm that was hit by an outbreak of avian influenza.
Katie Pasitney, the spokesperson for Universal Ostrich Farms, says the ruling means an interim stay granted last weekend to give the farm time to make legal submissions “no longer exists.”
It leaves the farm in Edgewood, B.C., without legal protection against the cull proceeding.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered the slaughter on Dec. 31, 2024, during an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu that killed 69 ostriches.
The farm has been fighting the cull order ever since, but it lost its case in Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal.
It had been seeking another stay to mount a challenge at the Supreme Court of Canada.
But the Appeal Court says it has been denied, with Justice Gerald Heckman disregarding affidavits filed by the farm in response to submissions by the CFIA on the stay application, in line with what it says are court rules.
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. A federal court has rejected the farm’s appeal to prevent the culling of its flock, which had been infected with avian flu. The farm’s owners say they will not be giving up, and have called on supporters to gather with them this weekend to “stand against destruction and shine a light of love.”
