Police say they are assisting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in executing a search warrant on the property of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., where about 400 birds have been ordered culled due to the presence of avian flu among the flock last year.
Federal authorities ordered the cull of the farm’s 399 ostriches in December 2024 after 69 ostriches died and two positive results from PCR tests showed the presence of avian influenza.
An RCMP statement says police support is being given to the CFIA, which has been “granted lawful authority to execute a search warrant.”
In a Sept. 22 video posted on social media by user Thundra Kerr, dozens of RCMP officers could be seen walking down the road to the farm alongside protesters.
Another video showed farm spokesperson Katie Pasitney urging supporters to “stop the massacre” and saying that a convoy of police cars and waste disposal trucks arrived outside the Edgewood property on Sept. 22 and then headed towards the farm.
“This is your day, RCMP, to serve and protect. You don’t serve and kill innocent animals that are unarmed, that don’t have a voice,” she says.
Pasitney, whose mother Karen Esperson co-owns the farm with her partner Dave Bilinski, said in a video on social media they had been told there are “three search warrants,” and said the family wishes to avoid violence.Following last December’s avian flu outbreak, authorities ordered the cull of the 399 birds remaining at the farm, situated about 570 kilometres east of Vancouver.
The order led to months of legal disputes. The farm argued the ostriches were now healthy, valuable for medial and immunological research, and should not be destroyed, while the CFIA maintained the flock was linked to a particularly deadly strain of the virus. In court filings, the agency said it was uncertain whether the ostriches remained infected or could still become infected.
Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled against the farm’s bid to delay the cull, rejecting its application for another stay while it sought a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. The judge concluded the farm had not shown that its proposed appeal “raises a serious or arguable issue.”
Pasitney later said the farm still plans to apply to the Supreme Court. The deadline for filing is Oct. 3.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
