Hundreds of B.C. ostriches given temporary reprieve from cull
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Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has granted an interim stay that spares, for now, the lives of 400 ostriches in B.C. that faced being destroyed because of avian influenza.
Universal Ostrich Farms, located in the B.C. Interior community of Edgewood, has been attempting to stop the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from destroying the birds since the cull was ordered amid an avian flu outbreak in December 2024 that killed 69 ostriches.
In a letter filed in the Federal Court of Appeal on Thursday, a lawyer for the ostrich farm said the CFIA was “imminently” mobilizing to enforce the cull order.
In a decision dated Saturday, the Federal Court of Appeal granted an interim stay until the stay motion “is decided on the basis of a full record.”
The decision says a notice to cull the birds is “hereby stayed pending the disposition of the stay motion.” The CFIA was given until Tuesday to respond to the motion.
“This gives us a little bit of time, not a lot,” lawyer Umar Sheikh, who represents the farm, said in an interview shorty after the interim stay motion was granted.
A herd of ostriches is seen on a remote farm in Edgewood, B.C., in an undated photo supplied by Universal Ostrich Farms Inc.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Katie Pasitney
Katie Pasitney, farm spokeswoman and daughter of the farm’s co-owner, said in a video posted to social media on Saturday afternoon that the granting of the interim stay allows several days of breathing room.
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“It’s been a very emotional few days. It is still very emotional today,” Pasitney said in the video, which was recorded in front of an ostrich pen where she has posted numerous updates from the farm.
The farm, which argues the birds are now healthy, has maintained that they pose no threat and are scientifically valuable.
Court documents filed by the farm say the flock has been “healthy” for more than 230 days, with no new avian flu infections and the last death recorded in mid-January, and claims the cull will “irreversibly destroy a flock built over decades.”
The letter filed Thursday says Universal Ostrich Farms wants to explore two routes of legal recourse to stop the cull: asking the agency or the minister to reconsider in light of fresh evidence, and seeking a hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada.
The CFIA says on its website that allowing a flock previously exposed to avian flu to remain alive means a potential source of the virus persists and increases the risk of reassortment or mutation of the virus.
The farm’s situation has drawn attention from officials in the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly called for the animals to be spared and studied. Supporters seeking to avert a cull have also been camping out at the farm and staging musical concerts.
The interim stay motion notes that the CFIA is still allowed to take preparatory steps to kill the birds.
It says that after the CFIA files its response to the application for a stay of the cull order, the farm will have until Wednesday to respond.
— with files from The Canadian Press.
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