Latest news with #ostriches
Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Canada wants to kill 400 ostriches. Sadly, it's the right thing to do
On Dec. 31 of last year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency declared an H5N1 outbreak at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C. CFIA had been tipped that some ostriches at the farm had died, so sent investigators out to see what was going on. Indeed, 69 of the bird met their death from the avian flu, which set in motion decisions that continue to reverberate. When it comes to battling this disease, Canada follows guidelines set out by the World Organization for Animal Health. That policy insists that if birds or animals have been infected with the virus and have been part of a larger flock or group, then the most effective way of stamping out the disease and preventing it from spreading elsewhere, including to humans, is to eliminate them all. And in January of this year, that is what CFIA ordered take place – meaning 400 ostriches on the Edgewood farm were effectively placed on death row. They were scheduled to be destroyed by Feb. 1. Earlier this month, a Federal Court judge denied two judicial reviews brought by the farm against the CFIA directive. The farm owners have appealed again. They have received support in their battle from animal-rights activists, Indigenous leaders and some politicians. Some truly big names have also jumped to their defence. B.C. ostrich cull to go ahead despite RFK Jr. intervention Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has become involved. In a call with CFIA president Paul MacKinnon this month, Mr. Kennedy urged Canada to halt the cull in the name of science. He argues there is much to learn from the immune response of the ostriches that survived the flu outbreak. If that wasn't enough, former Oprah Winfrey health expert and now administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, has jumped into the fray, offering to relocate the birds to his ranch in Florida. The Universal owners have said they want to keep the birds in Canada. So, does CFIA have its head in the sand or what? From a purely scientific standpoint, I would say no. Avian flu is a potentially lethal virus. In November of last year, the B.C. Ministry of Health reported its first case of bird flu in a human – a teenager who fell dangerously ill but eventually recovered. But the risk it poses to the human population is real and deadly serious. Then there is the threat it poses to Canadian farmers, including the $6.8-billion domestic poultry industry. The federal government reports that 14.5 million birds on more than 500 farms have been affected by the H5N1 virus since 2022, including more than 8.7 million in B.C. This includes birds that have died from the virus or have been 'depopulated' – in other words, euthanized - by CFIA. The virus has also spread to cattle and other animals in North America, although in far fewer numbers. While I'm admittedly not an expert on pathogenic avian-influenza viruses, it seems to me that allowing a domestic poultry flock known to have been exposed to the H5N1 virus to subsist and therefore potentially allow the disease to persist, mutate and spread, would be a mistake. With 8.7 million birds dead, B.C. farmers assess avian flu toll and worry about the future The U.S. hasn't always been consistent in using this 'stamp out' approach. It paid the price late last year when avian flu infected poultry farms, resulting in the deaths of millions of birds and causing the price of eggs to spike. Canada did not see the same escalation in egg costs because we protected our flocks through culling. Of course, Canada's policy is not a cure-all. If it was, it would have stopped the spread of the disease already. But it's arguably the best method of preventing the virus from causing greater harm. It also offers the best hope of a farm returning to disease-free status and protecting Canada's export markets in the process. Mr. Kennedy's brainstorm is to just let the disease run its course and let the feathers fall where they may. I don't want to underestimate the psychological, emotional and financial toll this situation has taken on the owners of Universal Ostrich Farms. The idea of watching 400 of their ostriches killed through yet-to-determined means would be gut-wrenching, and the $3,000 per bird the government offers in compensation would hardly seem sufficient. If Dr. Oz is willing to take the birds to his ranch, and they can be shipped safely, that would seem to be a better option than putting the birds to death. But otherwise, granting a stay of execution based purely on emotional grounds would set a terrible precedent, pose a danger to the country and would likely lead to worse decisions on this front down the road.
Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
B.C. owners of ostriches hope high-powered names and bird-flu survivor will save flock from cull
The owners of nearly 400 ostriches that are earmarked for death on a B.C. farm hope public appeals from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Oz and a 13-year-old Canadian survivor of bird flu will help to save their animals. The group of tall birds, including a particularly beloved one named Q-Tip after his fuzzy white head, live at the Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, a remote community in B.C. They have garnered international attention, including from Mr. Kennedy, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) plans to cull the animals to implement disease-control measures for avian influenza. Last December, an outbreak began killing 69 ostriches on the B.C. farm. In late January, the CFIA said the rest of the flock was to be 'depopulated.' The farm has been challenging the agency in court this spring. Earlier this month, the Federal Court determined the CFIA acted reasonably in its cull decision. The farm's owners filed an appeal this week. While the legal battle continues, about 50 supporters gather to the farm each day, said Katie Pasitney, who grew up with the animals as the daughter of one of the owners and sees them as family. Some birds, she said, have been around for decades: Q-Tip, for example, is in his 20s. B.C. owners of ostriches condemned because of avian flu outbreak seek new legal challenge Among the supporters who arrived earlier this week was a 13-year-old teenager from Fraser Valley, B.C., and her parents. She was diagnosed with Canada's first domestically acquired case of avian flu in November, although it is still not known how she caught the virus. She was discharged from BC Children's Hospital in early January after weeks spent fighting for her life in critical care. She made her first media appearance in video captured this week by reporters in B.C., where she was identified as Joselynn and issued an appeal to save the birds. 'Let them live; they don't deserve to die,' she whispered, her voice strained. Ms. Pasitney said the teenager is receiving blood tests to screen for antibodies. The same testing should be afforded to the ostriches who are in good health, she added. South of the border, Mr. Kennedy recently wrote a public letter to CFIA president Paul MacKinnon that said there would be 'significant value' in studying the immune response of the ostriches to avian flu. Dr. Oz, an American TV physician who now runs medicare in U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, offered to provide sanctuary to the birds at his Florida ranch. Dr. Oz offers to relocate B.C. ostriches facing cull The Trump administration has faced criticism for its response to the influenza. Drug maker Moderna announced Wednesday that the government cancelled a contract for the development of an avian flu vaccine for humans. In Canada, the CFIA has already killed more than 8.7 million birds in B.C. at hundreds of farms since April, 2022, because of avian flu. The measures, it says, are consistent with federal legislation and align with guidelines from the World Organisation for Animal Health. The CFIA won't specify when and how the ostriches will be killed. It said it may provide up to $3,000 to compensate for each culled bird. Universal Ostrich Farms has operated for more than three decades. The owners, Karen Espersen – Ms. Pasitney's mother – and Dave Bilinski, have raised hundreds of the birds. They are now concerned when the cull will begin. Ms. Pasitney felt hopeful when federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald told reporters on Wednesday the ostriches would 'not necessarily' be killed. Mr. MacDonald said he felt sorry for the farmers but cited an obligation to protect Canadian industries: 'We'll move forward on the best possible solution for everybody involved.'
New York Times
3 days ago
- Health
- New York Times
Canada Wants to Kill 400 Ostriches. RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz Want to Save Them.
What do the U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the celebrity physician Mehmet Oz and some Canadian animal lovers have in common? They all want to save a flock of 400 ostriches on a British Columbia farm. But there's a catch. The birds were in contact with a deadly virus: the avian flu. Canada ordered the birds to be culled after avian flu spread through Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia, a town in the province's interior, north of Washington State. The plight of the wobble — a term sometimes used to describe a group of ostriches — has divided Canadians, but the birds have won allies across the border, namely top officials in the Trump administration. Mr. Kennedy last week urged the Canadian authorities not to kill the ostriches but to do further testing to try to better understand the virus. 'We believe significant scientific knowledge may be garnered from following the ostriches in a controlled environment,' Mr. Kennedy said in a letter to the head of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which ordered the culling. Dr. Oz, who oversees Medicare and Medicaid for the Trump administration, offered to relocate the doomed birds to his 900-acre ranch in Florida. John Catsimatidis, a billionaire Republican businessman who owns a New York City radio station, made a plea to save the birds on his radio program, demanding 'truth, justice and the American way for the ostriches up in British Columbia.' An avian flu outbreak in the United States has killed millions of birds, spread to cattle farms and infected dozens of people since 2024, one of whom died. But a national campaign against bird flu has been undermined by the political upheaval in Washington, which has led to funding cuts and the dismissals of scientists to detect the virus's spread. Canada's outbreak has been most prevalent in British Columbia, where the avian flu has killed 8.7 million birds since 2022 — more than half of the national total. In December, a young ostrich at Universal Ostrich Farms fell ill with symptoms that looked like pneumonia. But testing revealed it was avian flu, and just over a month later, 69 of the 468 ostriches on the farm had died. Tests by officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed a few of the birds had died of avian flu, the H5N1 virus. The agency ordered the farm's owners, Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski, to eradicate the surviving birds, but they argued that the animals should be kept alive to test their antibodies in order to potentially develop treatments for the virus. The couple lost a legal battle in federal court to keep the birds alive. 'When they issue an order to euthanize all of our healthy ostriches,' it 'crossed the total moral line,' Katie Pasitney, Ms. Espersen's daughter, said in an interview. Shayan Sharif, a professor of immunology at the Ontario Veterinary College who specializes in avian flu, said, however, that the condemned ostriches were of limited scientific value because there had already been similar studies in other parts of the world. Still, he added, 'I know that those animals are near and dear to a lot of people, especially their owners.' Ms. Pasitney, 43, grew up on the 65-acre farm, which has been raising ostriches for 30 years, at first for meat and oil derived from the bird's liver. More recently, she said, the farm has switched its focus to research, partnering with scientists to study the birds and their immune systems. Despite the potential presence of the virus, protesters have descended on the farm, which is under quarantine, holding news conferences and filming visits by food safety inspectors dressed in white coveralls and masks. Canadian officials have said that they will not announce a date for the cull, which will be contracted out to a team that will use carbon dioxide gas to euthanize the ostriches, Ms. Pasitney said. The food inspection agency did not respond to requests for comment. People opposed to the cull are using walkie-talkies to surveil the road leading to the farm for any signs of 'a dumpster and a convoy of vehicles coming out here to kill our healthy animals,' Ms. Pasitney said. Ms. Pasitney said she was moved by the support of Trump officials, and by a special guest who visited the farm, a 13-year-old girl. The girl's mother identified her as the teenager who contracted the first human case of bird flu in Canada, which was detected in November 2024, and who wanted the birds to live. 'They're worth way more alive than they are dead because they have natural immunity,' Ms. Pasitney said of the remaining birds, but noted that a replacement flock of younger birds would be more susceptible to catch avian flu. She also said that exporting the flock was moot: The same agency demanding the bird cull would have to sign off on releasing the ostriches, and the family prefers to keep them on the farm. For his part, Dr. Oz told The New York Post that the ostrich farm presented an opportunity for researchers to study herd immunity of the birds by keeping them alive. 'The Canadians should stop putting their heads in the sand,' he said.
CBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CBC
B.C. ostriches won't 'necessarily' be killed, says Canada's agriculture minister
Canada's minister of agriculture says a group of B.C. ostriches will "not necessarily" be killed, despite an order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that they be culled due to concerns about the avian flu. On Wednesday, reporters in Ottawa asked Heath MacDonald, the minister of agriculture and agri-food, about the fate of the ostriches, after high-ranking U.S. officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., publicly called for the herd to be spared. "We're in a process," MacDonald said. "We're taking all facts into consideration. And we'll move forward on the best possible solution for everybody involved." Asked directly if the birds would be killed, he said, "The process is in place. And not necessarily." WATCH | Dr. Oz, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wade into B.C. ostrich debate: Dr. Oz, U.S. billionaire offer to take B.C. ostriches ordered killed 16 hours ago Duration 2:42 The fate of the birds on Universal Ostrich farm, in Edgewood, B.C., has attracted international attention since December 2024, when they were told by the CFIA that their entire herd of roughly 400 ostriches would have to be killed after two dead ostriches tested positive for avian flu. The order follows the CFIA's blanket policy of "stamping out" all domestic flocks where the disease is detected, in an effort to stem its spread and possible mutation. The disease has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of birds in Canada and the United States and can also infect mammals, and in rare cases, humans. Its spread was a primary driver of skyrocketing egg prices in the United States earlier this year as commercial flocks were infected. But Universal Ostrich farm has tried to appeal the order, arguing that while 69 birds died during the initial infection, the last death occurred in January, and since then, it says the remaining birds have shown no symptoms of the disease. They also say they don't sell their birds for food but have pivoted instead to using them for scientific research. However, the CFIA points out that the ostriches continue to be in open pens where they are exposed to wild birds and animals, which would allow avian flu to be reintroduced or, if the ostriches are still carrying the disease without showing symptoms, for it to be passed back into wild animal populations. They also said the farm did not present evidence that the ostriches were genetically unique enough to warrant an exemption on scientific grounds. And they say they have a responsibility to follow international guidelines on how to handle infections in order to preserve Canada's agricultural industry and public health. MacDonald said while he sympathizes with the farmers, it's also important to take a look at the broader context of combating avian flu. "I certainly, you know, obviously feel sorry for the farmers... but we also have the economic side to this," he said. "We have to protect other industries and sectors, as well." The farm is entitled to up to $3,000 per ostrich killed. In the meantime, Universal Ostrich has filed for an appeal, which still has to be accepted, of an earlier court ruling allowing the cull to move forward. And a group of dedicated supporters have set themselves up on the farm, publishing daily live streams and lobbying for help. It was through this network that the ostriches came to the attention of U.S. billionaire John Catsimatidis, who told CBC News he had learned about the kill order through a website called Broken Truth, which describes itself as a network aimed at "exposing fraud and corruption, particularly in medicine and beyond," and says it has its roots in pushing against public health policies stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Catsimatidis then used his platform, which includes a radio show on a New York-based station he owns, to bring the topic up to other leaders, including Kennedy. During an April episode of his program with the health secretary, Catsimatidis claimed the ostriches were being killed because of corruption and pharmaceutical companies, with Kennedy responding that it was a "huge mistake." Kennedy then followed up with a letter posted last week to X, stating that he had met with the president of the CFIA and was requesting that Canada consider not culling the herd but rather work with the United States to research them. Additionally, former TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is now the administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has offered to take the ostriches in at his ranch. MacDonald said he has not yet had a conversation with his U.S. counterparts about the topic, but it would be better to have a conversation rather than communicating online via social media. "If we follow Twitter or that sort of thing with any major decisions that we're making here in Canada, I'm not sure that's the appropriate course of action," he said.
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Minister says CFIA following due process in B.C. ostrich cull case
A sign calling for the protection of ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farms is displayed in Edgewood, B.C., on Saturday, May 17, 2025. Hundreds of supporters flocked to the farm over the Victoria Day long weekend to protest the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's order to cull about 400 ostriches. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Hemens The federal agriculture minister says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is following 'due process' as it prepares for a cull of about 400 ostriches at a farm in British Columbia. Asked about U.S. interventions in the case, Heath MacDonald says he doesn't think it's appropriate for a major decision in Canada to be made by following social media. MacDonald says he feels sorry for the farmers but there's an obligation to protect Canada's industries. He says he hasn't been in contact with his U.S. counterpart on the issue, which has attracted the attention of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is the administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Kennedy wrote to the head of the CFIA last week seeking to avert the cull, while Oz has offered to rehouse the birds at his Florida ranch. The owners of the farm in Edgewood, B.C., this week filed a Federal Court appeal seeking a 'stay of the execution and enforcement' of the culling order, which was first issued last year during an outbreak of avian flu that went on to kill 69 of the ostriches. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.
