The Ostrich Bird Flu Saga: 300+ Birds Massacred and a Family Farm Destroyed

“This is a plea out to the world. Stop this massacre from happening,” went the unheeded plea for sanity and decency from Katie Pasitney of family-owned Universal Ostrich Farms in British Columbia.

Who was threatening the massacre?

Had al-Qaeda infiltrated BC?

Had some Wahhabi cleric issued a fatwa against birds?

No, the wanton killing didn’t occur at the hands of brutal Islamic fundamentalists; it was rather the handiwork of your friendly Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), all in the name of Public Health™.

In the name of Public Health™, based on two allegedly positive PCR tests pulled from dead birds almost a year ago, 300+ reportedly healthy birds have now been shot dead and a family’s livelihood is now destroyed.

Via ABC News (emphasis added):

“A Canadian federal agency said Friday it has shot dead all ostriches at a British Columbia farm, fulfilling a 10-month-old cull order over a bird flu outbreak.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a news release on Friday a professional marksman was used and it was done in a humane way.

Owners of the farm in the southern interior community of Edgewood, British Columbia have been fighting the order in the courts, arguing the surviving ostriches show no signs of illness and should be spared…

A holding pen that was filled with ostriches on Thursday appeared still and empty of live birds on Friday, and no ostriches could be seen anywhere else on the property.

Instead, the pen where the shootings took place was filled with long blue tarpaulins covering objects on the ground that were also shrouded with black sheeting.”

Related: Grocery Chains Ration Eggs After Mass Chicken Slaughter For Bird Flu

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Whereas one not familiar with their degeneracy might assume the people posing as bleeding-heart liberals enamored of all manner of “rights” might have expressed some sympathies for the slaughtered ostriches, MSNBC instead slandered the activists fighting to prevent the killing as “anti-vaxxers” and members of the “conspiratorial right.”

Via MSNBC (emphasis added):

“Such was the end of the saga: What could have been a routine disease response at a small farm had become a cause célèbre for anti-vaccine, anti-government activists and the conspiratorial right*. For the hundreds of pilgrims who had come to the farm in so many months — and the thousands more who joined the livestreams — the birds were more than large-eyed livestock; they were symbols of a government that had overreached during the pandemic, with mandates and quarantines, and was going further still. The episode underscores a legacy of the pandemic in the West: eroded trust in government agencies and rising vaccine hesitancy, and how partisan politics have complicated public health.”

*What “conspiratorial” is supposed to mean in this context, aside from serving as a lazy smear, is not clear; the government, demonstrably and empirically, conspired to kill these animals and even went out of its way to pile bales of hay around the perimeter of the kill zone and restrict airspace to drones so that no one could record the events.

Related: Canadian Government Pushes Psychiatric Medication for ‘Vaccine-Hesitant’

The family fought the legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court, even offering to have their entire flock tested again, which they swore was healthy, only to have the court refuse to even hear the case, giving the final greenlight to the authorities to turn their guns on the birds.

Via Government of Canada:

“The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed Universal Ostrich Farms’ application for leave to appeal the August 21, 2025 decision of the Federal Court of Appeal. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will be moving forward to complete depopulation and disposal measures as authorized by the Health of Animals Act and guided by the stamping out policy for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)…

As the farm remains under CFIA control, individuals are reminded that subsection 35(1) of the Health of Animals Act makes it an offence to obstruct or hinder an analyst, inspector or officer who is performing duties or functions under this Act or the regulations. Any such actions may result in enforcement measures or prosecution. Section 65 of the Health of Animals Act describes the legal consequences of a contravention of the Act.

Transport Canada has published a notice pursuant to Section 5.1 of the Aeronautics Act that the airspace above the ostrich farm location is restricted. The restriction includes Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) (drones) and aircraft. Offences under the Aeronautics Act may result in administrative monetary penalties, fines or imprisonment…

Our disease response aims to protect both public and animal health*, as well as minimize impacts on the $6.8 billion domestic poultry industry, and the Canadian economy. This supports Canadian families and poultry farmers whose livelihoods depend on maintaining international market access for $1.75 billion in exports.”

*Killing animals so as to safeguard “animal health”: the progressive way.

Benjamin Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile (now available in paperback), is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.

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