The risks of bird flu are real. We can't bury our heads in the sand, even for the love of ostriches

Globe and Mail

2 days ago

Since the spring of 2022, 173,107,698 chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry have been culled in the U.S.
Another 14,566,000 birds in commercial operations and backyard flocks have been slaughtered and disposed of in Canada in a bid to diminish the threat of avian influenza spreading to other mammals, including humans.
The rules are harsh. If a single bird tests positive for avian influenza, the whole flock is eliminated immediately and farms are compensated for their losses. This 'stamping out' strategy, as crude as it is, remains the best tool we have in preventing a pandemic of H5N1 influenza. So why are we all atwitter about the death sentence issued to a wobble of ostriches?
The basics of the story are well known. Universal Ostrich Farms Inc. has been raising ostriches in remote Edgewood, B.C., since the 1990s. The flightless birds are sold for meat, eggs and leather – a niche industry.
In December, 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was tipped off that some ostriches at the farm had died and, after testing, avian influenza was confirmed; 69 of the 468 ostriches have died. The CFIA says the farm has shown disregard for 'regulatory compliance and animal standards.' The birds are penned outdoors, and the farm has a pond that attracts wild waterfowl, which can be carriers of bird flu. It's a high-risk environment for H5N1.
A quarantine was imposed on the farm, and then a cull order was issued. (Compensation of $3,000 would be paid for each bird killed.) But the owners of Universal Ostrich fought back, first by largely ignoring the regulatory orders (they have been fined $20,000 to date), seeking a judicial review of the CFIA order, and inviting protestors to the site. (Highly irresponsible given the quarantine.)
Then the media, who love quirky news items, started taking interest. This was not your typically boring agriculture story. It was more like a Jerry Springer show come to life, with eyebrow-raising claims rife with dubious logic, conspiracy theories and cockamamie excuses.
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The pleas to save the long-necked birds from the CFIA guillotine fall into three major categories: Emotional, scientific, and political.
These ostriches, we have been told repeatedly, are loved. They have names like Annabelle, and distinct personalities. In other words, they're more lovable than the chickens, ducks and geese we kill by the millions to ensure public safety.
Still, the much-loved ostriches were slaughtered for meat for decades. But no more. During COVID, when meat and birds could not be sold and exported easily, the business pivoted to 'scientific' research. They partnered with 'Dr. Ostrich,' the nickname given to professor Yasuhiro Tsukamoto of Kyoto Prefectural University, to produce COVID-19 antibodies in ostrich eggs.
The main 'scientific' argument in the farm's legal fight is that the remaining ostriches are now immune to bird flu. There is no actual evidence for this claim. H5N1 may be less deadly in ostriches than in chickens, but that doesn't make them all immune.
A Federal Court judge has ruled that this type of argument can't be resolved in court, and that technical and scientific decisions should be left to specialized scientific and regulatory bodies like the CFIA. Wise words that should have put an end to the 'debate' about the fate of the ostriches.
But this is all about politics now – of the extreme right-wing variety. The charge is being led by the execrable Rebel News, and a host of conspiracy theorists.
Make no mistake, this is essentially the latest iteration of the COVID-19 convoy – a feathery makeover featuring an odd assortment of people who essentially don't believe in government, and don't believe that laws they don't like should apply to them.
If that's not bad enough, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, have weighed in – the former with a dangerous claim that H5N1 should be allowed to run wild to create a survivorship of super-fowl immune to bird flu, and the latter with a promise to house the death row ostriches on his ranch. That these quacks are in senior health leadership positions beggars belief.
The 'let them live' pleas are emotionally appealing. But no, the ostriches should not live. Not any more than any other bird in a flock where H5N1 is present.
Could we adopt strategies other than 'stamping out,' like mass vaccination of poultry, and tougher biosecurity on farms? Of course. But in the meantime, we have to enforce the rules we have. There is too much at stake for human health to do otherwise.
We can't allow ourselves to be bamboozled by a small group of zealots who think they can make up their own science, and their own rules.