Canada’s minister of agriculture says a group of B.C. ostriches will “not necessarily” be killed, despite an order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that they be culled due to concerns about the avian flu.
On Wednesday, reporters in Ottawa asked Heath MacDonald, the minister of agriculture and agri-food, about the fate of the ostriches, after high-ranking U.S. officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., publicly called for the herd to be spared.
“We’re in a process,” MacDonald said. “We’re taking all facts into consideration. And we’ll move forward on the best possible solution for everybody involved.”
Asked directly if the birds would be killed, he said, “The process is in place. And not necessarily.”
An embattled B.C. ostrich farm is getting support from south of the border. As Brady Strachan reports, a couple of high-profile officials within the U.S. administration have met with Canadian authorities and asked them to preserve the ostriches for scientific research.
The fate of the birds on Universal Ostrich farm, in Edgewood, B.C., has attracted international attention since December 2024, when they were told by the CFIA that their entire herd of roughly 400 ostriches would have to be killed after two dead ostriches tested positive for avian flu.
The order follows the CFIA’s blanket policy of “stamping out” all domestic flocks where the disease is detected, in an effort to stem its spread and possible mutation.
The disease has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of birds in Canada and the United States and can also infect mammals, and in rare cases, humans. Its spread was a primary driver of skyrocketing egg prices in the United States earlier this year as commercial flocks were infected.
But Universal Ostrich farm has tried to appeal the order, arguing that while 69 birds died during the initial infection, the last death occurred in January, and since then, it says the remaining birds have shown no symptoms of the disease. They also say they don’t sell their birds for food but have pivoted instead to using them for scientific research.
However, the CFIA points out that the ostriches continue to be in open pens where they are exposed to wild birds and animals, which would allow avian flu to be reintroduced or, if the ostriches are still carrying the disease without showing symptoms, for it to be passed back into wild animal populations.
They also said the farm did not present evidence that the ostriches were genetically unique enough to warrant an exemption on scientific grounds.
And they say they have a responsibility to follow international guidelines on how to handle infections in order to preserve Canada’s agricultural industry and public health.
MacDonald said while he sympathizes with the farmers, it’s also important to take a look at the broader context of combating avian flu.
“I certainly, you know, obviously feel sorry for the farmers… but we also have the economic side to this,” he said.
“We have to protect other industries and sectors, as well.”
The farm is entitled to up to $3,000 per ostrich killed.
In the meantime, Universal Ostrich has filed for an appeal, which still has to be accepted, of an earlier court ruling allowing the cull to move forward. And a group of dedicated supporters have set themselves up on the farm, publishing daily live streams and lobbying for help.
It was through this network that the ostriches came to the attention of U.S. billionaire John Catsimatidis, who told CBC News he had been following the story through a website called Broken Truth, which describes itself as a network aimed at “exposing fraud and corruption, particularly in medicine and beyond,” and says it has its roots in pushing against public health policies stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Catsimatidis then used his platform, which includes a radio show on a New York-based station he owns, to bring the topic up to other leaders, including Kennedy. During an April episode of his program with the health secretary, Catsimatidis claimed the ostriches were being killed because of corruption and pharmaceutical companies, with Kennedy responding that it was a “huge mistake.”
Kennedy then followed up with a letter posted last week to X, stating that he had met with the president of the CFIA and was requesting that Canada consider not culling the herd but rather work with the United States to research them. Additionally, former TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is now the administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has offered to take the ostriches in at his ranch.
MacDonald said he has not yet had a conversation with his U.S. counterparts about the topic, but it would be better to have a conversation rather than communicating online via social media.
“If we follow Twitter or that sort of thing with any major decisions that we’re making here in Canada, I’m not sure that’s the appropriate course of action,” he said.