The Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal has upheld a $10,000 fine against a B.C. ostrich farm for failing to report signs of avian flu among the birds.
Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., made headlines last year after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a cull order for around 400 ostriches at the farm. The farm owners challenged the order in court, but were not successful, and the cull was completed in November 2025.
The inspection agency said the birds needed to be culled because they carried a form of the H5N1, or avian influenza, that had not been identified in Canada before, and was connected to a case of human infection in the United States.
Sixty-nine of the farm’s ostriches had become ill and died between Dec. 15, 2024, and Jan. 15, 2025. The cull order was handed down by the CFIA at the end of December 2024, after PCR tests detected avian influenza in two of the deceased ostriches. The farm had repeatedly challenged the order in court, arguing the remaining ostriches had developed immunity, displayed no symptoms, and were important for scientific study.
The CFIA was first made aware of the birds’ condition on Dec. 28, 2024, after receiving an anonymous call. An inspection agency veterinarian called the farm that day and spoke to co-owner David Bilinski, who said that the birds had started dying a few weeks earlier, according to the tribunal decision.
The veterinarian advised Bilinski to have a private veterinarian check the birds and contact the agency if avian influenza was suspected.
Obligation to Report
The tribunal decision criticized the farm owners for not reporting the sick birds, noting they had observed symptoms in line with avian influenza.“The Applicant’s owners purport to be experts in ostrich health and welfare. And yet they failed to exercise the same level of adherence to the HA Act that a reasonably prudent person would have done in a similar situation,” the decision said.
The decision said the farm owners were still obligated to report possible cases of avian influenza to the inspection agency even if they attempted to contact a veterinarian.
The farm owners told the tribunal they believed the birds’ illness was not a situation that required an emergency response, an opinion they formed based on their call with the CFIA.
The inspection agency took swabs from two of the dead birds at the farm on Dec. 30, 2024, and said the next day that the samples had tested positive for H5N1. It said the results were immediately shared with the farm, according to the decision.
CFIA argued the farm intentionally did not report cases of H5N1, but the tribunal disagreed, saying it did not see the failure to report as intentional on behalf of the farm owners, but that it was “certainly negligent.”
The tribunal noted that $10,000 was the base amount of a penalty for the violation.
Court Battle
According to CFIA protocol, the positive test results from the two birds in December 2024 necessitated the remainder of the herd be culled. However, the farm owners secured a court injunction to halt the cull while awaiting a judicial review.The judicial review was dismissed on May 13, 2025 and the farm owners appealed that decision.
Officials from the food inspection agency arrived at the farm on Sept. 22, 2025, with a police escort to arrange for the cull, but were not able to proceed because the Supreme Court had issued a stay order while it considered the farm owners’ appeal.
