Canada to kill ostrich herd infected with bird flu after top court declines to hear farm’s case

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By Ed White

(Reuters) -Canada’s government prepared to kill more than 300 ostriches at a farm in British Columbia, where some birds were infected with avian flu, after the country’s highest court on Thursday declined to hear arguments to spare the birds.

The Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood argued its birds survived the original infection detected in December 2024 and had become immune. 

Canadian officials say the animals remain a potential source of infection for birds and other species. 

Midday on Thursday federal health officials, with security provided by police officers, moved in wearing safety equipment, as Universal Ostrich Farms’ owners along with a crowd of supporters wept, denounced the cull and called for its suspension. 

“We are meant to protect them,” said a distraught Katie Pasitney, a family member of a co-owner and a spokesperson for the farm, in a post on Facebook following the Supreme Court of Canada ruling.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency late last year ordered the ostriches to be killed — standard procedure for commercial  flocks infected with bird flu. On Thursday, the agency said it would move forward to complete the cull.

The ostriches had attracted support from some groups and individuals with a history of opposing government health policies they consider overreach such as vaccines, including President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  

Some members of the former “Freedom Convoy” movement, which led Canada-wide protests against vaccine mandates and other government measures during the pandemic, have also lent their support to the farm.

“The CFIA has respected all orders and decisions of the courts throughout the legal process and expects the ostrich farm owners and supporters to do the same now that the Supreme Court of Canada has issued its judgment,” CFIA said in a statement. 

Avian influenza, known to many as bird flu, is a highly contagious disease for many bird species. It can also infect mammals, including humans and cattle. A B.C. teenager became critically ill with H5N1 in 2024. Bird flu has cost the American poultry industry billions of dollars and provoked a spike in U.S. egg prices. 

The Universal flock, in B.C.’s mountainous southeast, has been under the control of the CFIA since September. 

Four people have been arrested for allegedly obstructing CFIA actions. 

The farm, whose owners say they specialize in studying ostrich antibodies, had argued culling the birds would cause “irreparable harm.” The CFIA said it has not substantiated their claims of scientific research and has not received any evidence of scientific research being done at the infected premises.

Pasitney denounced the federal government. 

“They’re everything that we have and everything that we’ve loved for 35 years,” said Pasitney.

(Reporting by Ed White; Maiya Keidan and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Caroline Stauffer, Sharon Singleton and Aurora Ellis)