Bird flu: Tensions build in B.C. village as court decision on ostrich cull nears

Hundreds of ostriches in B.C. that are staring down a government death sentence now have a powerful ally. Judy Trinh explains.

The frustration inside the Royal Canadian Legion hung as heavy as the suffocating summer heat. Dozens had come to give their side of a global controversy on whether to cull a flock of ostriches that survived a life-threatening virus.

More than two dozen people, representing a tenth of the population of the village of Edgewood, B.C., had gathered after word spread that CTV News was visiting. For several weeks, a handful of residents had emailed to voice frustration about the “unfair” coverage of Universal Ostrich Farm’s (UOF) legal battle against a culling order issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after avian flu was detected in its flock last December.

The residents said their health and safety concerns have been ignored in the months since the outbreak, while media across the globe from the New York Times to the BBC had turned UOF’s ostriches into a cause-célèbre.

Yet the residents were unwilling to go on the record, citing fears of harassment and intimidation.

UOF had gained high powered support from the Trump administration, an American billionaire and closer to home - the former leaders of the Freedom Convoy such as Pat King and Tamara Lich.

Earlier in July, Lich helped organize a fundraising concert for UOF and even took to the stage in Edgewood to sing “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Testing vs. termination

Universal Ostrich spokesperson Katie Pasitney says they’re not just trying to get about 400 birds off death row but also standing up for other farmers by challenging a government policy that is inflexible and inhumane.

While the CFIA argues the mass euthanization is the most effective way to control the outbreak and prevent the spread of a pathogenic virus that has killed birds, spread to animals and even humans.

Pasitney wants to stave off the death sentences by getting the right to test and monitor the ostriches to show they are now healthy.

As the legal challenge reached the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa, CTV News decided to visit Edgewood to get a better sense of the rising tensions in the village of 235 people.

One resident suggested meeting at the legion but insisted she didn’t want to be filmed.

When CTV News arrived at the blue and white shingled building on Tuesday, 26 people were waiting inside. They were beef producers and retired plumbers, paramedics, bus drivers and barbers. Some were neighbors who lived next to the ostrich farm.

The group decided they would all speak out together. Showing their strength in numbers as news cameras rolled.

Speaking out in solidarity

Lois Wood who baked cookies and squares for the group, raised her hand to speak. She’s retired, owns horses and lives alone next to UOF.

To get home, Wood has to drive down Langille road, the same rocky lane that goes by the ostrich farm and a cluster of tents and trailers that have popped up across from it. It’s a camp of strangers, gathered to protest CFIA’s cull order. Some have been in Edgewood for months.

Wood says the strangers had previously set up a checkpoint at the turnoff to the road. Other residents said the protesters asked for names and took photos of license plates.

“Edgewood is not about violence,” said Wood, who added she’s worried confrontation with protesters will lead to clashes. “If CFIA comes – they want to do everything they can to stop them.”

A few weeks ago, Wood watched as the protesters blocked access to the farm by parking their vehicles horizontally across the lane and cutting off tree branches to lay across the road when a rumour spread that inspectors were moving in.

“They’ve got nothing to do with this,” said Jim McFarlane. He and his wife Millie are beef farmers and angry that, despite being ordered to quarantine their property, UOF has allowed dozens of protesters on to their property. The couple are worried their cattle could be impacted as the legal fight drags beyond seven months.

In Canada, h5N1 has been detected in wild animals like foxes, skunks and raccoons. Pet dogs and cats have also caught the virus. In the U.S., dairy cows have been infected.

Even if their cattle are healthy, the McFarlanes say the perception of a lingering disease could impact their income.

”Our (cattle) prices could be knocked down because of the potential of avian flu in cattle, because it can happen,” said Millie.

The couple live a ten-minute drive across the village from Universal Ostrich Farm, but worry about fallout.

“It’s like living next to Chernobyl,” Millie said referring to the Ukrainian nuclear reactor explosion that released radioactive material into the air.

CFIA support

Across the room from the McFarlanes, retiree Crystal Michaud chimed in about supporting the government inspectors.

“CFIA is protecting Canadians and Canadian agriculture,” said Michaud.

“UOF is putting us on a slippery slope. They’re setting up precedents by overturning Canada’s regulations for local, national and international trade. They are putting other people at risk.”

Chicken farms in the region have been ordered to tighten their biosecurity measures to guard against the spread of H5N1 virus. Some countries such as Mexico, Japan and Taiwan have banned poultry products from B.C. because of the presence of avian flu.

On its website, CFIA states that as long “as the ostrich farm remains a confirmed infected premises, the entire British Columbia poultry sector is not able to access certain export markets.”

Ostrich research

According to court documents, UOF stopped selling ostrich meat in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it entered into an agreement with a Japanese scientist from Kyoto to research antibodies. The work involved injecting the ostriches with COVID-19 antigens to create antibodies in the birds, then extracting the proteins from the eggs.

The ostriches are kept in open air pens. There are a few wooden structures on the property and a metal corral shelter with heavy plastic sheeting that was torn and coming off the frame. The Edgewood residents are skeptical UOF facilities are conducive to scientific research.

More than a dozen people told CTV News they saw worrisome practices at UOF in the weeks before and shortly after an avian flu outbreak was declared.

They described seeing eagles and ravens picking at ostrich carcasses. They shared video of purported ostrich bones littered in the fields. And one neighbor said the farm’s owners buried dead ostriches on his property near the creek that runs across the village.

‘Hearsay and false’ claims

After the meeting, CTV visited Universal Ostrich Farm to get a response to the concerns of Edgewood residents.

A two-metre-high sign emblazoned with the words “Stop the Murder of 399 Ostriches” leans against a rusted dump truck marked the entrance of the farm. Protesters playing the role of volunteer security guards led us to the brown house on the property to interview farm spokesperson Katie Pasitney.

When confronted with the neighbours’ accounts of rotting ostrich carcasses, Pasitney said it was “hearsay and false,” and insisted the farm was well managed. “If we really believed that these animals were going to put our whole community at risk, we would have done something about it.

She said that complaint could be coming from a “neighbour who was disgruntled.’

To prevent the spread of disease, poultry producers are supposed to report dead birds. CFIA detected H5N1 at the farm last December after receiving an anonymous tip about dead ostriches. And in May, CFIA fined UOF co-owners Dave Bilinski and Karen Esperson $20,000 for failing to cooperate with anti-avian flu bio security measures and not adhering to quarantine orders.

Pasitney also dismissed concerns about harassment and intimidation. “Everybody who has come here to support this farm has been nothing but kind.” She said they’ve picked people up for rides, helped residents do yard work and supported the local store.

Pasitney said UOF’s legal challenge is about more than just saving the birds. It’s also about countering government overreach

“It’s for food security, for better ways … changing policy and fixing fractured and flawed systems and coming together.”

But other Edgewood residents like retired bus driver, Jim McKee says he wants the government to protect him from what UOF is doing.

“Government overreach is such a overused cliché. If it isn’t the government to regulate and protect – whose job is it?”

Meanwhile the CIFA says its continuing with its plan to enforce the cull order.

The Federal Court of Appeal is expected to release its decision any day now. Edgewood residents hope the matter will be resolved quickly and peacefully but are also bracing for a possible confrontation if there is a surge in protesters.