Canada’s food inspection agency says it plans to begin a “complete depopulation” of hundreds of ostriches at a farm after the country’s top court declined to block the controversial cull.
On Thursday, the supreme court said it would not take up the a case that has catalyzed a fierce protest by the farm owners and protesters – as well as senior figures in the Trump administration, who have decried the public health effort as government overreach.
Universal Ostrich Farms, near the town of Edgewood, British Columbia, was first ordered in May to cull nearly 400 birds, amid fears of an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu, and earlier this week officials seized control of the business. Sixty-nine birds have already died after the outbreak of a flu-like illness, but on Wednesday, Canada’s supreme court issued an interim stay on the cull order as it weighed whether to hear the case.
Related: Canada: order to cull over 400 ostriches sparks protests and death threats
Thursday’s ruling removed any legal impediment to commencing the killings.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, lobbied Canadian officials and Mehmet Oz, a physician and former TV host appointed by Trump as the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, offered to move the birds to his ranch in Florida. US billionaire John Catsimatidis has also pleaded with the Canadian government to reverse its cull order.
The growing row over the ostriches – and a simmering post-pandemic skepticism of government – have inspired protesters to descend on the farm, with many broadcasting their frustration on social media. Under a livestream of the bird enclosure posted online by the farm, commenters frequently express skepticism towards vaccines and call for more proof that the birds are ill.
The case has also penetrated Canada’s federal politics. In early October, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was asked twice by reporters whether he supported protesters. The Tory leader has avoided making specific comments on the issue, despite many within his party protesting against the cull. He told reporters the issue had been “mismanaged from the very beginning” but didn’t say the word ‘ostrich’.
The Canadian federal government said the food inspection agency is following a “stamping out” policy in order to limit the spread of avian flu, a move in line with broader advice from the World Health Organization.
But animal advocacy groups have called on the agency to conduct further testing on the animals to confirm they are infected. The farm owners said that because the last bird flu death occurred on 15 January 2025, with the surviving majority appearing healthy or recovered, the flock has developed at least partial herd immunity against H5N1. They have also cast doubt on the scope and effectiveness of testing on the birds.
On Thursday, Katie Pasitney, the farm’s spokesperson, told the media that the agency was “murdering” healthy birds.
“They are prehistoric animals that have survived millions of years, but they won’t survive the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” she said. Co-owner Dave Bilinski said he’s “afraid there’s – in my opinion – there’s no justice left.”
A federal court, however, found that allowing the birds to remain alive could lead to the spread of avian influenza to other animals, the poultry industry – or to humans.
The agency has not said when it expects to begin culling the birds.
A 2016 CFIA manual, obtained under freedom of information laws, says ostriches can be killed by methods, the preferred being lethal injection, which requires three people: one to hold the bird by sitting on its back, one to hold the head, and one to inject the drug. Staff can also use gas or break the birds’ necks. Members of the agency can only shoot the birds “as a last resort”, if they have a “skilled marksman” on site.
According to the Canadian Press, shortly after the court ruling, inspection agents workers began setting up more equipment and flood lighting around a large hay-bale enclosure near the back of the ostrich pen.
