400 ostriches on B.C. farm ordered to be culled due to avian flu concerns
The fate of 400 ostriches that live on a farm near Edgewood B.C. in the West Kootenay region has been decided.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has ordered the entire herd at Universal Ostrich Farm be culled following an avian flu outbreak in December.
The outbreak is believed to have come from a flock of ducks that migrated to the farm.
Nearly 70 ostriches died as a result of the outbreak.
According to the farm owners, they lost about 10 per cent of their flock.
At a judicial hearing last month, lawyers for Universal Ostrich Farm stated there has been no sign of illness at the farm since Jan. 15.
Story continues below advertisement
The CFIA's cull order had a deadline of Feb. 1, but farm owners challenged it and in January received a reprieve from a federal judge pending a judicial review of the case.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
'We think CFIA basically applied a default position to these ostriches when they have been infected with a hybrid disease, not a typical HPAI virus,' said Kelowna-based lawyer Lee Turner in April.
'The policies were not properly followed or understood.'
The case garnered widespread attention, with supporters calling on the government to review the way it handles outbreaks so that animals aren't unnecessarily killed.
The ostriches are part of a program researching antibody production against the avian flu pandemic, which has been wiping out entire chicken farms.
Turner said in April that losing the ostriches comes at cost, potentially a missed opportunity to find a cure for other birds infected by the disease.
Story continues below advertisement
'They're learning a lot from their antibodies and their immune systems,' Turner told Global News. 'And so I think we would lose that. We would also have a dangerous precedent for other farmers and ranchers and I think it poses a real threat to the agricultural industry in Canada.'
In addition to saving the ostriches, Pasitney said the fight is to prompt changes to government policies and implement other measures instead of only relying on a single and immediate 'stamping out' order.
'They're supposed to evolve and we just want to make the appropriate changes that would bring forth positive outcomes for others that are in the same fight,' Pasitney said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
9 hours ago
- Global News
Questions raised over outgoing IH CEO's ability to solve crisis at Kelowna General Hospital
Rylie Nicholls spent a lot of time in the pediatric ward at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) before the five-year-old Lake Country girl died from an aggressive form of cancer in 2023. 'We had about 10 different admissions through Kelowna General Hospital,' Nicholls said. The Lake Country mother, who also has an eight-year-old son, is upset about the pediatric ward closure due to a shortage of physicians. 'I've been through the journey. I know what it's like,' Nicholls said. 'It saddens me and terrifies me for families now that will need it.' The concerns have been echoed across the region since the pediatric unit closed on May 26, for at least six weeks. Doctors have also gone public with their concerns saying their voices have been silenced for years as they pleaded with Interior Health (IH) for changes to the care model. Story continues below advertisement 'We've been raising our voices for many years about the systemic issues at KGH and how they've been impacting staff and safety,' said Dr. Alysha MacKenzie-Feder, a Kelowna pediatrician. 'We wanted to make sure that that was heard and understood that this crisis really was predictable.' Numerous pediatricians, including MacKenzie-Feder, have resigned from their hospital work in the last two years, citing difficult working conditions. According to a letter signed by 13 pediatricians, there are only four pediatricians working at the hospital along with one newborn specialist. They say the baseline calls for 12. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Interior Health is an organization in limbo,' Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission Gavin Dew told Global News Wednesday. Dew is concerned that with IH CEO Susan Brown set to retire in December, a quick resolution to the crisis may not be possible. 'We have a CEO who is six months away from departing and we have a crisis that is happening now, so that has left us in a place where we appear to have lame duck leadership,' Dew said. Dew and two other local Conservative MLAs are set to meet with Brown on Thursday to discuss the crisis but he added that the community cannot afford to wait months for a new CEO to take over and tackle the problem, suggesting that a leadership transition could be fast-tracked. Story continues below advertisement 'I want to know whether the Minister of Health has confidence in the leadership of Interior Health because if the minister doesn't have confidence, let's get it over with. Let's move forward. Let's hit the reset button,' Dew said. 2:10 Interior Health CEO speaks out on pediatric unit closure at KGH Minister of Health Josie Osborne was not available for comment Thursday. IH's board of directors chair, Dr. Robert Halpenny, said in a statement sent to Global News, 'I am fully supportive of our CEO, Susan Brown, and her approach, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, to put in place solutions to address the staffing challenges in Kelowna General Hospital's pediatrics unit. ' The statement went on to say, 'As a former clinician and CEO of Interior Health myself, I can say that both Susan's efforts and her dedication to supporting the teams at IH, as well as our community and patients, is appreciated by the board and also aligned with what we think should be done.' Story continues below advertisement Halpenny added, 'Although a significant reason for these shortages is the global lack of physicians, changes in how physicians practice and a growing population, we know she is still working hard to put systems and services in place.' The statement does not include any mention of a revamped model of care that is being demanded by the doctors. The pediatrician group has stated that IH is misleading the public by blaming the hospital crisis on a global physician shortage. The doctors say it's IH's mismanagement that has resulted in the current crisis. 2:09 Kelowna mother speaking out after infant daughter transferred to Penticton hospital
Toronto Star
14 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Hundreds of laid-off CDC employees are being reinstated
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 460 laid-off employees at the nation's top public health agency received notices Wednesday that they are being reinstated, according to a union representing the workers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed reinstatement notices went out to the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees, but provided few details. About 2,400 CDC employees lost their jobs in a wave of cuts across federal health agencies in early April, according to a tally at the time. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Whole CDC programs were essentially shut down, including some focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and workplace safety and health. The entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered. Infectious disease programs took a hit, too, including programs that fight outbreaks in other countries, labs focused on HIV and hepatitis in the U.S., and staff trying to eliminate tuberculosis. An estimated 200 of the reinstated workers are based in the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention, HHS officials confirmed. Staffers at a CDC lab that does testing for sexually transmitted diseases are being brought back, said one CDC employee who wasn't authorized to discuss what happened and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Also reinstated are an estimated 150 employees at the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, including people staffing a lab that works on lead poisoning, according to the union and employees. Layoffs at federal agencies were challenged in lawsuits, with judges in some cases ordering federal agencies to halt terminations of employees. Officials at HHS have never detailed how they made the layoff decisions in the first place. And they did not answer questions about why the notices went out, or how decisions were made about who to bring back. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency was streamlining operations and that 'the nation's critical public health functions remain intact and effective.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services — whether it's supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,' he said. This is not the first time that employees at the Atlanta-based agency were told they were being terminated only to then be told to come back. After an earlier round of termination notices went out in February, about 180 CDC employees in March were told to come back. __ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Toronto Star
14 hours ago
- Toronto Star
7 hospitalized, dozens of salmonella infections linked to recalled salami sold in Canada
Seven people in Canada have been hospitalized after eating salami that was recalled over a possible salmonella contamination. Rea- and Bona-branded salami were recalled by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday. The products, which are being recalled in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, may not look or smell spoiled, but may pose significant risks to health if consumed. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The following products should be thrown out, or returned to the place they were purchased: Bona Mild Genova Salami Rea Genoa Salami Sweet Rea Genoa Salami Hot The Public Health Agency of Canada released a notice Wednesday stating that 57 people — 44 in Alberta and 13 in Ontario — got sick after eating the salami. The federal agency said people became ill between mid-April and late May, in many cases after eating salami in prepared sandwiches or bought from deli counters. Salmonella is a food-borne bacterial illness that can spread to other people several days or weeks after a person is infected, even if they don't have symptoms. It can result in serious and potentially deadly infections, particularly in children, pregnant people, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Some short-term symptoms like fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps and diarrhea may present themselves in healthy people, according to the CFIA, and long-term complications may include severe arthritis.
