Canada Completes Controversial Ostrich Cull, Killing Over 300 Ostriches

Photo Credit: Canadian Press via CBC

On Nov. 7, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) carried out the euthanization of between 300 to 330 ostriches suspected of carrying H5N1 avian flu at the Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, British Columbia. 

According to CTV News, infectious disease veterinarian Scott Weese said that the ostriches "probably weren't infected." However, Weese added that "we don't really know," as conditions at the farm made fully testing every ostrich impossible.

The CFIA knew for certain that the H5N1 avian influenza virus was, at some point, present on the farm, since 69 birds died in December 2024, and two of the animals posthumously tested positive for the virus.

Karen Espersen and David Bilinski, the owners of the farm, had a legal obligation to report the 69 original deaths to the CFIA, but failed to. Instead, the CFIA ran tests on the two dead birds for avian flu after receiving an anonymous tip. Then, less than an hour after the tests came back positive, the CFIA issued a Notice of Dispose ordering a cull of all the ostriches at the farm. 

 The Universal Ostrich Farm challenged this order, requesting an exemption from the Notice to Dispose, but it was rejected by the CFIA. On Jan. 30, the farm applied for a judicial review, and a federal court granted an injunction staying the cull order on Feb. 17, pending another review by a federal court.

On May 13, the Honorable Justice Russel Zinn declared that the CFIA's Notice to Dispose was valid and should be carried out at the agency's discretion. The court also awarded $15,000 to the CFIA. 

On June 20, the Federal Court of Appeals granted a stay of the cull order, pending the appeal of the Federal Court's initial decision. Subsequently, the Federal Court of Appeals unanimously ruled to dismiss the farm's appeal on Aug. 21. It also awarded the CFIA an additional $7,000.

Espersen and Bilinski then escalated the case again, bringing it to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the Notice to Dispose was stayed for a third time on Sept. 24, pending the Court's final decision on the case. 

Finally, on Nov. 6, the Supreme Court dismissed Universal Ostrich Farm's case, and the CFIA was cleared to go ahead with euthanizing the over 300 ostriches potentially infected with H5N1. The farm said that people who had been in contact with the ostriches and were suspected of being infected had tested positive for H5N1 antibodies, a statement corroborated by the CFIA, which, in addition to being concrete evidence that there had once been avian flu present on the farm, was used by Espersen and Bilinski to claim that their birds had developed "herd immunity" to avian flu. 

Although H5N1 antibodies found in the blood of humans are not indicative of any immunity to H5N1 in the ostriches, this argument was successful in persuading countless supporters, including US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz, who both spoke out publicly in favor of Espersen and Bilinski. 

Despite significant backlash, including in-person protests staged outside of Universal Ostrich Farm, which was occupied by the CFIA at the time, the cull went forward on Nov. 7. 

One day after the cull, Karen Espersen’s daughter, Katie Pasitney, criticized the government's decision to cull all of the ostriches as opposed to testing their blood first and then considering euthanasia for only those who tested positive for H5N1. According to The Canadian Press, Pasitney called the CFIA’s stamping-out policy “broken,” reasoning that it fails to prevent growing outbreaks of avian influenza in BC and other parts of Canada. She added that the Universal Ostrich Farm was “ground zero for change” in outbreak response, but that her family would “never recover from this.”

According to CTV News, the CFIA affirms that the stamping-out policy is necessary to protect human and animal health, and protect Canada’s $6.8 billion domestic poultry industry, including $1.7 billion in international trade exports.