Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has rejected a request from the owners of an ostrich farm in British Columbia to conduct additional testing for avian flu in order to avoid a cull mandated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The court issued a ruling on Friday, which was made public on Monday, granting a temporary halt to the cull until a decision on an appeal is reached by the week of July 21.
Universal Ostrich Farms has met the criteria for a temporary stay on the cull of around 400 birds at their farm in Edgewood, B.C. The farm had also sought permission to carry out diagnostic tests on the birds and to disregard any directives from the food inspection agency prohibiting such tests, but Judge Sylvie Roussel denied these requests without providing a reason.
In December and January, numerous ostriches died at the farm during an avian flu outbreak, leading the food inspection agency to order the culling of all birds in the flock under its “stamping out” policy.
Roussel stated that the farm would suffer irreversible damage if the stay was not granted, and the balance of convenience supports pausing the cull. Supporters of the farm have been present on the property for weeks to oppose the cull, with U.S. officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., advocating for the preservation of the birds for potential scientific research purposes.
