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A B.C. ostrich farm opposing a cull order against its birds over concerns of avian flu exposure, has been granted an interim stay by the Federal Court of Appeal, averting the slaughter of its nearly 400 ostriches, for now.
Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C. was ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) last December to cull its flock of ostriches after the agency said the farm had 69 ostrich deaths from December 2024 to the end of January 2025, with the CFIA linking the deaths to “‘flu-like’ illness” and PCR tests showing two birds to have died from H5N1.
The farm has argued that its herd has since gained immunity from the virus and is being used for research. Attempts to overturn the cull order were unsuccessful. In June, the Federal Court upheld CFIA’s order. The farm owners appealed the ruling, but the Federal Court of Appeal rejected their application in August. The farmers had also previously applied for a judicial review of the CFIA order, but it was denied.
On Sept. 4, the lawyer for the farm sought another stay on the cull order, filing a series of documents as the farm seeks a hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada. In the letter filed to the Federal Court of Appeal that day, Umar Sheikh said the CFIA was “imminently” mobilizing to enforce the cull order.
In a decision dated Sept. 6, the appeal court 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,” with the deadline for the CFIA to respond to that stay motion set for Tuesday, Sept. 9.
The CFIA told The Epoch Times that it is aware of the interim stay motion issued by the appeal court. The agency said it will address the matter “on an urgent basis” and that “all supporting materials will be before the Court” so that it can have “a full record to consider.”
‘Rippling Effect for Decades’
Katie Pasitney, the daughter of one of the co-owners of Universal Ostrich Farms (UOF), called the decision “wonderful news” in a video posted to Facebook on Sept. 6.
“It gives us about three days of breathing room, and [in] that three days of breathing room we’re going to get all of our materials into the court about why we are seeking the emergency stay,” she said in the video recorded in front of an ostrich pen at the farm, about which she has posted numerous updates.
Pasitney, who has been acting as the farm’s de facto spokesperson, said the next few days are crucial for fellow farmers and supporters to “push out the messaging and come together in unity and solidarity to protect these animals.”
“The policy we are fighting here for change is coming to a farm near you,” she said, in an apparent reference to the “stamping-out” policy, which the CFIA has adopted in accordance with the World Organisation for Animal Health’s health standards.
The organization defines the stamping-out policy as a way to control the spread of avian flu. It states that the policy “consists primarily of the killing of all the animals infected or suspected of being infected, including those that have been directly or indirectly exposed to the causal pathogenic agent.” It also states that the infected environment must be decontaminated.
According to the CFIA, UOF’s ostrich herd poses a threat to humans and animals. The agency said in a statement in May that the form of H5N1 found in the birds contains a genotype tied to a human infection in a poultry worker in Ohio, raising concerns of virus mutation and public health danger.
The CFIA also told The Epoch Times in June that testing by its National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease “conclusively determined” that the infected ostriches at the farm have a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and “in completing full genome sequencing determined that the current HPAI infection in these ostriches is a novel reassortment not seen elsewhere in Canada.”
In its latest Aug. 21 update, the agency maintained its position, saying its “disease response” aims to protect both public and animal health and minimize the economic impact on Canada’s poultry sector.
Pasitney denies the CFIA’s stance. She said in the Sept. 6 video that the birds have had no symptoms in 235 days and that the agency has continued refusing to perform additional avian flu testing on the flock in the farm’s effort to prevent the cull.
She said UOF is fighting “to save your animals, our animals, our food, our farmers.”
“Remember, this is a policy that we are trying to get changed and fixed that will have a rippling effect for decades to come on farmers across Canada and our food security and nutritional food supply,” she added.
‘Urgency’
Shortly after the interim stay motion was granted on Sept. 6, UOF’s lawyer Umar Sheikh told reporters that the farm had applied for the interim measure at the same time it applied for the stay, saying it wanted to prevent the CFIA from culling the ostriches before the court could rule on the stay.
As well, David Bilinski, co-owner of UOF, alleged in an affidavit sworn on Sept. 3 that he was told by an agency “enforcement member” that a cull was being planned for the “immediate destruction of our entire ostrich flock.” He added that, based on the communications he received and the preparations he observed, the cull was expected to “occur within the next 2–4 days.”
The farm’s court filings state that the “urgency cannot be overstated” and that “[o]nce these genetically unique birds are destroyed, no remedy can restore them.”
The documents further added that the ostriches, which have been under quarantine supervised by the CFIA, have been “healthy” for more than 230 days with no new avian flu infections, and that the last recorded death was in mid-January.
The filings said that UOF will submit a request for reconsideration to the federal minister overseeing the CFIA, and that the farm will seek a hearing in Canada’s high court.
The CFIA’s cull order has drawn attention from U.S. officials. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for reconsideration of the order and a U.S.-Canada collaborative research project to study the ostrich flock in relation to their immune response to avian flu. Former TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, now the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has volunteered to coordinate the relocation of the birds to his ranch in Florida.
U.S. billionaire John Catsimatidis has likewise said he and another individual had contributed about US$35,000 to the farm’s legal battle to have the cull order stayed.
Meanwhile, dozens of supporters from across Canada have been camping out at the farm since before the summer.
Chandra Philip, Paul Rowan Brian and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comments from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
