RCMP investigate alleged assault of woman who lives beside B.C. ostrich farm

A 72-year-old B.C. woman near an ostrich farm was assaulted amid protests against the culling of ostriches. Judy Trinh reports.

The RCMP are providing round the clock protection for Lois Wood, a 72-year old Edgewood, B.C., resident who lives next to Universal Ostrich Farms (UOF) after a masked man doused the woman in gasoline and punched her in the face.

According to police, the suspect they arrested is associated with the protest camp at UOF, where dozens of people have gathered to demonstrate against the culling of more than 300 ostriches, following an outbreak of Avian Flu last December.

The police investigation comes as the Supreme Court will decide in the next few weeks if it will hear an appeal by UOF to overturn an order by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to euthanize the birds.

In her only interview, Wood told CTV News that she was scared, but felt compelled to speak out for the other residents of Edgewood who are being intimidated by the strangers who have invaded their quiet community.

“Everybody’s scared. The only reason I’m talking right now is because I have 24/7, serious police protection,” Wood said in an interview a week after she was assaulted. Bruises were still visible around her left eye.

In July, Wood was part of a group of 26 residents, representing 10 per cent of the town, who broke their silence to speak with CTV News about their health and safety concerns.

Wood’s name has also been linked to the anonymous complaint received by the CFIA of dead ostriches, which triggered an inspection and led to the discovery of H5N1 in the flock.

“(Protesters) yell at me, ‘This is all your fault, this is murder’…I’ve never called CFIA. I haven’t been in contact with them,” Wood said during a Zoom interview, adding that she was able to handle the harassment but never thought it would result in a physical attack.

“I thought I was going to be lit on fire.”

A masked man and a red jerry can

At least one police car has been parked near the road that leads to her home since Sept. 22. That was the day the CFIA was set to euthanize more than 300 ostriches. Beginning as early as 4 a.m., Wood recalled hearing people at the protest camp moving equipment, preparing for arrival of the CFIA and the RCMP.

At 7 a.m. Wood, who lives alone, says she opened the screen door to the front porch to put out some food for her cat. That’s when she saw a man wearing a balaclava dressed in black, “carrying a five-gallon, red jerry can.”

“He was pouring gas all around the bottom of my steps, along the side of my house,” Wood said. She claims he reached into his pocket and feared that he was going to grab a lighter. At that moment, Wood says her only reaction was a “primal” need to fight like her life depended on it.

“I screamed, ‘Get out! Get out!’ and he poured gas all over me,” she said.

As she started to move toward him, Wood says the intruder threw gas on her face and her clothes. She grabbed his arm and sunk her teeth into the exposed flesh where his sleeves were rolled up.

“This is primal. This is survival. And I got his upper arm as hard as I could,” she said. “I was just thinking, ‘Harder, harder, how hard can I bite him?’”

Wood says the masked man broke free, but not before she was able to “kick him in the privates.”

The perpetrator then punched her in the face and knocked her down.

At that moment, Wood says she saw the man reach again into his pockets. Afraid she was about to be lit on fire, the retiree scrambled to her feet and pulled out her flip phone to call for help.

CTV News has seen one video which has surfaced on the social media feed of UOF supporters, showing Wood screaming at a man dressed in black.

Assault, arson charges possible

Staff Sgt. Kris Clark of the RCMP’s E Division in B.C. said in an email that medics treated a victim and investigated a report of an “assault and arson attempt at property neighboring the Universal Ostrich Farm,” shortly after their arrival on Sept. 22.

The “suspect associated to the protest camp on the UOF, was identified and arrested without incident,” Clark said, adding that police have gathered evidence to present to the B.C. Prosecution Service to lay potential charges.

UOF spokesperson Katie Pasitney declined to be interviewed for this story, but responded to questions over text. She described the people who are gathered at the farm as “families, neighbours, farmers and advocates,” standing together peacefully because they care about “truth, justice and the well-being of living creatures.”

Pasitney said the Wood incident was “handled quickly and promptly with us” and that the people involved were removed quickly. She also characterized the reporting of the attack on Wood as a “distortion” of their fight.

“Creating division at a moment when we are waiting for the Supreme Court of Canada to decide whether our case will even be heard feels far too convenient,” Pasitney said. “Why would mainstream media choose now to publish negative and false representations of Universal Ostrich Farm just as the country’s highest court weighs whether we deserve a fair chance at justice?”

Since the H5N1 virus was detected at UOF last December, Pasitney has participated in numerous interviews with national and local media organizations, as well as right wing Canadian and American influencers. UOF’s attempt to save its ostriches has garnered support from members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and a New York billionaire who offered to help fund their legal fight.

MP calls for agriculture minister to stop slaughter

First-term member of Parliament Scott Anderson represents the riding of Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee and the community of Edgewood. He says he’s getting about 1,000 communications a day about Universal Ostrich Farms, telling CTV News most responses are from constituents who live in his riding.

Anderson says “99 per cent” of the correspondence is support for saving the ostriches.

“My office is listening to all sides, but concentrating on the ostriches and their research potential, not the history of the farm or the farmers,” said Anderson, who has been calling on federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald to intervene in the slaughter and test the ostriches instead.

He says he has heard about the alleged assault and arson attempt involving Wood, but Wood says her MP has not contacted her.

Anderson did visit the ostrich farm this past weekend and documented what he saw on his Facebook account. He said that he had a message for supporters.

“Any violence that moves from the beaten path of a peaceful protest is going to result in bad things for the ostriches,” he wrote. “Political support will dry up.”

The CFIA estimates there are currently between 300 to 330 ostriches on the B.C. farm. The agency has said that the “ongoing delay” in carrying out the cull of ostriches represents “potential animal and human health risks.”

The agency said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s stamping out policy for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), adding it “plays a critical role in animal disease control and preparedness,” and that under the policy, “there is no post detection testing of exposed birds to exclude them from depopulation.”

“Allowing a domestic poultry flock known to be exposed to HPAI to remain alive means a potential source of the virus persists,” CFIA said. “It increases the risk of reassortment or mutation of the virus, particularly with birds raised in open pasture where there is ongoing exposure to wildlife.”

With files from The Canadian Press

An earlier version of this story said the Supreme Court will make its decision on the appeal later this week, but the deliberations, although expedited, could take weeks longer.