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Global News
17-05-2025
- Health
- Global News
Calls grow to test ostriches for avian flu before Edgewood, B.C. birds are culled
The Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) has joined a growing number of supporters in calling for more testing of nearly 400 ostriches before the entire flock is culled. On Thursday, the RDCK board unanimously passed a motion not to accept the carcasses of the birds until further testing is done to determine if they are carrying the avian flu virus. 'There has been an incredible amount of public outcry against this,' said Teresa Weatherhead, the regional district's director for electoral area K. Weatherhead said that the district has received hundreds of emails in support of the birds and further testing. 'This was the only realm of advocacy we could use to ask for that testing,' Weatherhead said, referring to the motion that had passed. An outbreak of avian flu on Universal Ostrich farm late last year led to the deaths of 69 ostriches, but the farm's owners say there has been no sign of illness among the remaining 399 for months. Story continues below advertisement The outbreak is believed to have come from a flock of ducks that migrated to the farm. The support has gained even more momentum since Tuesday's federal court decision in a judicial review, which upholds the cull order by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). 0:52 Canadian Food Inspection Agency ostrich cull upheld in federal court About 100 supporters are camping out on the ostrich farm in an effort to stop federal authorities from coming in and destroying the birds. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Thursday's regional district motion was unexpected but welcome by Katie Pasitney, the daughter of the farm's owners. Pasitney took to social media right after the motion was passed to update supporters. 'This is a win,' said a very emotional Pasitney. 'This is a big win for us, because the landfill is acknowledging that they will not accept our healthy, beautiful big birds.' Story continues below advertisement On Friday, Pasitney told Global News that despite the positive development, they are still facing an uphill battle. 'Our cull order is still on,' she said. 'We are working on a stay, an emergency stay and appeal, so we are very actively going after those angles.' 1:58 Health Matters: Officials in Canada and U.S. comparing avian flu strains of severe and fatal cases The ostriches are part of an international antibody research program, which ironically is working towards wiping out avian flu. The CFIA first ordered the cull in December 2024. It argues its 'stamping out' policy is necessary to control the spread of diseases, but has not revealed when the cull may take place. It would also not comment on the regional district's motion or whether it would consider more testing before conducting the cull as the CFIA did not respond to Global News' request for comment on Friday. Story continues below advertisement While hopeful for more testing, the regional district emphasized that and the cull are out of its control. 'It's not within our power as a local government to to have power over, obviously, a federal agency,' Weatherhead said. 'We have hope and we have optimism that there can be further testing but we certainly don't have any power over that.' The farm owners have stated repeatedly that the birds pose little risk because they don't fly nor are they used for meat.
Wall Street Journal
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
MLK's Wise Words on Trade
As a trade war unfolds across the world, Americans might want to revisit a message about global commerce that Martin Luther King Jr. shared more than six decades ago. King, the legendary champion of American civil rights, was also concerned with the ties that bound him to those living everywhere. He expounded on the theme in 'The Man Who Was a Fool,' a sermon in his 1963 book, 'Strength to Love.' The fool, King lamented, was a character in a New Testament parable who thought his homegrown abundance made him proudly self-sufficient. In cautioning his audience against the conceit of illusory independence, King underscored how much a typical household owes to goods that cross national borders. 'Whether we realize it or not,' said King, 'each of us is eternally 'in the red.' We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women. We do not finish breakfast without being dependent on more than half of the world. When we arise in the morning, we go into the bathroom where we reach for a sponge which is provided for us by a Pacific Islander. We reach for soap that is created for us by a Frenchman. The towel is provided by a Turk. Then at the table we drink coffee which is provided for us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese [person], or cocoa by a West African. Before we leave for our jobs we are beholden to more than half the world.' King, we now know, borrowed his debt-before-breakfast anecdote from the English theologian Leslie Weatherhead, who had coined it in one of his own books in 1936. Weatherhead made his list of 'debts' even longer, also noting that his marmalade 'is passed to me by a Spaniard, my banana by a West Indian.' As Weatherhead offered his reflections on the network of exchanges that brought faraway wonders to his door, he was aware that leaders of his time were more interested in hardening borders than transcending them. Global tensions were rising, and World War II was on the horizon. Today's international landscape has its own shadows, with wars and trade much in the news. That's why it's worth remembering, as both King and Weatherhead suggested, that trade is a testament to our interdependence. 'In a real sense,' said King, 'all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.' Mr. Heitman, a columnist for the Baton Rouge Advocate, is the author of 'A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.'
