Universal Ostrich Farms is hoping the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will reverse its order after avian flu was detected on the farm
Within the next two weeks, the owners of a remote B.C. ostrich farm are expected to round up 400 of these 135-kilogram birds and kill them — one way or another.
“We can’t shoot them. That will cause mass panic. We can’t gas them because we don’t have an enclosed space like a chicken farm. Maybe we slit their throats, but they run at 65 kilometres an hour,” said an emotional Katie Pasitney, daughter of Karen Espersen, the owner of Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood.
“The oldest bird is 35 years and my mom has names for hundreds of them. She has an extraordinary relationship with the birds. They respect her, she can walk among them.”
Founded in 1995, Universal Ostrich Farm sells bird oil, feathers and skins, and is involved in an international program to produce antibodies and, ultimately, a vaccine to deal with the H5N1 avian flu pandemic.
Pasitney said an outbreak of H5N1 on the family farm late last year led to a Canadian Food Inspection Agency order that all the birds on the farm be killed.
She said a flock of wild ducks arrived on the property in early November and, within a few weeks, some of the younger ostriches became sick. Their symptoms included red eyes and bright-green feces.
CFIA officers visited the farm on Dec. 31 and took a swab sample from two of the birds that had died from the flu.
On Jan. 9, the CFIA emailed a letter to the family stating the ostriches are considered to be poultry, and that all birds on the farm would need to be destroyed by Feb. 1, 2025. If the family could not kill the birds themselves, the CFIA offered to hire a third party to do the work.
Pasitney said that around 40 birds had died from the avian flu, but the rate of deaths had slowed, and the older birds were fine.
She said that ostriches are not like chickens, in that they are a red-meat animal and are known for their hardiness. In the case of Universal Ostrich Farm, the birds do not leave the property and are not a risk to spread the disease.
According to the CFIA’s most recent avian flu bulletin, there are 59 poultry farms in B.C. with active avian flu cases and 180 that have been resolved. So far, almost 8.6 million commercial birds in B.C. have been destroyed.
Pastiney said her family met with an agribusiness lawyer on Monday and was preparing a request that the cull deadline be extended “so we can better understand the situation.”
On Jan. 9, Steve Morissette, the B.C. NDP MLA for Kootenay-Monashee, wrote a letter to the CFIA stating his opposition to the cull order.
“We understand the challenges inherent in keeping livestock and people safe, particularly in today’s epidemiological climate, and we defer to the experts on avian flu response,” Morissette wrote.
“However, it is our understanding that the work Universal Ostrich is doing with researchers on viral antibodies is promising, and we hope that CFIA could also consider this in their decision making.”
Dr. Lyle Oberg, a board member of the Alberta Health Service Board, has also weighed in.
On Jan. 8, he wrote a letter to the CFIA stating, “I would urge you to not automatically move to complete culling as you would with other smaller birds.
“These are not chickens in a confined space. They are a large bird with a complex immune system that has the ability to fight off infections such as avian flu.”
The CFIA did not respond to a request for comment.