Outrage, upset and even legal grounds are being raised Canada-wide over an order for a B.C. ostrich farm to kill its 400 birds.
An avian flu outbreak was declared at Universal Ostrich in Edgewood Dec. 31.
Believed to have come from a flock of ducks that landed at the farm, the flu killed approximately 10 per cent of the ostrich - which are used for science, not for meat.
"The ostrich are doing amazing," said Katie Pasitney, daughter of Karen Espersen, who owns Universal Ostrich with her partner Dave Bilinski. "You wouldn't even believe that these are the ostrich that they want all destroyed by Feb. 1 and disposed of."
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued the cull order, which is being challenged by the public, the farm and now a lawyer has been retained.
Pasitney said they are seeing support from as far as Abbotsford and Alberta, with dozens who visited the farm Friday to protest when CFIA was reportedly on site.
Along with the public and a lawyer, Universal Ostrich has Animal Justice on its side.
The group sent The Morning Star a statement calling the (CFIA)'s order "heavy-handed."
"When discussing the outbreak, Dr. Scott Weese - a highly-respected professor at the Ontario Veterinary College - noted mass culls given that H5N1 influenza is now endemic, especially in situations where risk of transmission is reduced," the statement reads. "To combat the growing threat of bird flu, the must be addressed in order to protect both animal and human health."
Animal Justice lawyer and executive director Camille Labchuk says the ostrich "shouldnB次元官网网址檛 be forced to pay for the failures of factory farming."
She says a broken system has led to avian flu outbreaks.
B次元官网网址淟ike all animals, these ostriches are not mere disposable items," Labchuk said. "Mass culls are not a solution to systemic issues that encourage highly infectious diseases to thrive.B次元官网网址�
A mass letter-writing campaign is also underway, with residents from all over the province penning their upset with the cull order.
Since breaking the details of this story, The Morning Star has received dozens of letters. Like that of James Hebert, who writes: "If they want to totally eliminate bird flu everywhere you would have to kill all the birds, wild ones included. Which is insane. Killing these ostriches is not going to help and this action makes no sense."
Pasitney says the support has come from media, organizations and citizens worldwide.
"Standing together to help fight for change for the farms around the world and animals with mass culling not working," she said. "How can we turn a blind eye to science and research being offered at the vaccine stage to the Canadian government and they have no interest in it. We are not at the beginning stages. We have this ready to be used to start helping animals and farms from losing everything."
