The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says the cull of a flock of ostriches in southwest B.C. will move forward in order to fight the threat of avian flu, but it won’t be providing details of the operation in advance.
The notice comes as supporters of the farm are gathering in Edgewood, B.C., to try to stop it.
The CFIA says it is moving ahead with the cull following a court ruling issued May 13 that found the agency had followed the proper procedures for making the decision to order the procedure, and that it has a broad mandate to make the decisions on behalf of the Canadian government.
Though the judge in the case said he sympathized with the farm for the economic and emotional toll the loss of its birds would have, he also wrote in his decision that must be balanced against the greater public good associated with the CFIA’s mandate of working to stop the spread and mutation of the deadly bird disease.
In a response to the ruling, the CFIA confirmed in a written statement that it will move ahead with the “humane depopulation and disposal of birds at the infected premises with veterinary oversight.”
The statement said, “Operational plans and dates will not be shared with the public in advance.”
Owner urges supporters to ‘surround’ farm
Meanwhile, supporters of Universal Ostrich have begun gathering around the property to show their solidarity with the owners in the hopes of stopping the cull from moving forward.
The case has attracted significant attention from groups saying they believe the cull order is government overreach and has even received the attention of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, who was asked about it during an interview on a New York radio show last month and told the host he was “horrified by the idea that they are going to kill these animals.”
Katie Pasitney, whose mother is co-owner of the farm, has called for a peaceful protest and said they are looking for legal measures that can be taken to try to stop the decision from being carried out.
In a video message posted on Facebook, Pasitney’s mother, Karen Espersen, urged supporters to “come surround the farm” and “don’t let them do this to these beautiful animals.”
“We’ve taken years to be able to pet these guys, walk among these guys,” she said, walking through the herd. “We love these guys. They’re all happy and healthy. If we don’t stand for this … then what kind of world have we become?”
The family says the animals that survived the outbreak have recovered and are happy and healthy, having developed what Pasitney claims is “herd immunity” to the virus, which makes the birds more valuable to researchers alive than dead.
She has argued that the birds who remain should be retested to see if they still have the disease and, if not, should be allowed to live and be studied.
“Let’s take their blood. Let’s do an analysis. Let’s do a control study,” she said in an interview with CBC News.
“As long as we have migratory birds, we will have avian influenza, so eradicating all of our livestock and hurting our farmers… is not the solution.”
On Wednesday, she said about 40 supporters had already arrived, with the possibility of more to come.
Animal rights group weighs in
The farm is also supporting a letter-writing campaign targeted at the Regional District of Central Kootenay, urging it not to accept dead ostriches at local landfills.
Regional District of Central Kootenay spokesman Dan Elliott says it received the landfill certificate to possibly handle the dead ostriches in January, adding the district has not received any information on when a possible cull would happen.
“In response to the need to manage avian influenza disease, the Regional District of Central Kootenay has received an operational certificate from the provincial Ministry of Environment and Parks to handle the disposal of the avian influenza-infected waste if the culling of the ostriches goes ahead,” Elliott says.
Meanwhile, an animal law group has urged the federal government to pause the cull and consider “whether killing the birds still makes sense considering how much time has passed since the initial order was issued.”
“Avian flu is a devastating disease that must be taken seriously, but these ostriches shouldn’t be forced to pay for the failures of a broken system,” says Animal Justice director of legal advocacy Kaitlyn Mitchell. “Avian flu outbreaks are exacerbated by rampant factory farming, yet it’s the individual birds who pay the ultimate price.”
Agency says cull needed to protect Canadian poultry industry
The CFIA, though, says its policy of killing all animals in domestic flocks where avian flu has been detected is necessary in order to contain the disease, which has the potential to mutate and spread to other animals and even humans, as when a teenager in B.C. was hospitalized for several weeks after being infected.
“Allowing a domestic poultry flock known to be exposed to HPAI to remain alive allows a potential source of the virus to persist. It would increase the possibility of reassortment or mutation, particularly with birds raised in open pasture where there is ongoing exposure to wildlife. This could also increase the human health risk,” the statement says.
“Our disease response aims to protect both public and animal health, as well as minimize impacts on the $6.8 billion domestic poultry industry, and the Canadian economy.”
In the court ruling, it was noted that Universal Ostrich is entitled to up to $3,000 per animal killed.
Judge not convinced by farm’s arguments
The ruling also notes that it is not up to the courts to weigh in on the scientific evidence for and against the cull, with Justice Russell Zinn writing, “courts generally stay out of scientific debates,” and instead it is the place of “technical bodies,” such as the CFIA to “make judgments on complex, expertise-driven matters.”
In the ruling, which is by his own admission, “lengthy” at more than 100 pages, Zinn goes into detail about the decision-making around the cull and the arguments against it made by Universal Ostrich.
The ruling also lays out the steps that had been taken in ordering the cull, starting with an inspection of Universal Ostrich after the CFIA received an anonymous tip that dead ostriches had been seen at the farm in December 2024. It was later confirmed that between 25 and 30 ostriches had died in December, a number that would rise to 69 by mid-January.
CFIA inspectors visited the farm in late December and collected samples from two dead birds that were later confirmed to have avian flu. At the same time, the ruling states, the inspectors took note of the fact that wild birds, including ducks, were interspersed with the ostriches at both an outdoor farm and in the ostrich feeding area, which could result in the further transmission of diseases.
As a result of the positive test, the farm was given notice that its entire flock would have to be quarantined and later killed, following CFIA policy.
At the same time, Zinn found, the CFIA also provided the farm with information on how to apply for an exemption to the cull, which would involve proof that the birds were considered rare or unique enough to be spared. Methods of proving this included breeding books, recognition from a certified breed association or the poultry industry, or specific genomic testing.
Though the farm did submit its case that it had business plans to research ostrich antibodies and its flock’s genetic lines, the CFIA did not find it met its standards for exemption, and that the cull would proceed as ordered.
The ruling went on to note that the CFIA’s decision-making is based on public health and economic decisions, including Canada’s ability to participate in international trade, which is why those impacted by cull orders are given financial compensation.
Decision can’t be changed in hindsight: judge
Zinn also noted that so far, only one exemption has been granted, in a 2022 case of a turkey farm where avian flu had been detected in two barns but not others on the premises, because those animals had been kept separate and safety measures had been taken to prevent the possible spread of disease between the different structures — conditions that do not exist at Universal Ostrich where inspectors observed wild birds, weasels and “unauthorized individuals” walking among infected animals, in violation of quarantine policy.
The ruling also took issue with the farm’s argument that the CFIA lacks the expertise to make rulings on ostriches as its policies are designed for more common poultry such as chickens and turkey, noting that the agency has a long history of regulating ostriches and emus, as well.
And it dismissed the argument that, because the ostriches that have survived may not be infected or contagious, the order to cull, given in December, should be overturned.
“Judicial review must never be conducted with the benefit of hindsight,” Zinn wrote. “Although the infection had later abated with many ostriches surviving, that could not have been foreseen at the time. The Stamping-Out Policy guided the Agency to depopulate the entire exposed epidemiological unit without delay.”
