Should B.C. ostriches be saved? Animal advocates and virologists disagree

An ostrich farm in B.C. is calling for support after losing its appeal to prevent the culling of its flock that had been infected with avian flu.

As a British Columbia ostrich farm absorbs a major new blow dealt by the Federal Court of Appeal, giving the Canadian Food Inspection Agency the green-light to cull its herd, animal advocates and researchers who study viruses are on opposite sides of the eight-month cull controversy.

Animal rights lawyer Camille Labchuk, the executive director of Animal Justice, says the planned cull of the close to 400 birds at the Universal Ostrich Farm should not go ahead.

“We are urging the CFIA to consider whether the killings are truly necessary, given how much time has passed between when the outbreak was first identified late last year and the present day.”

Labchuk says the original cull order by the CFIA on Dec. 31 last year is now based on outdated information and the agency needs to reconsider whether the birds still pose a risk nearly eight months later.

“Is the outbreak still active? Is killing them really necessary or even valuable in any way at this point? I do hope that voices within the CFIA are having those conversations,” Labchuk said.

The farm maintains the surviving ostriches are healthy and could provide valuable insight into avian flu resilience if they’re allowed to live and be studied.

A University of Saskatchewan virologist sees things differently. Angela Rasmussen says culling remains the only reliable way to ensure the disease doesn’t spread to other poultry, wildlife, or farms.

“Canada has signed treaties, including with the World Organization for Animal Health, to respond to avian influenza outbreaks in poultry species such as ostriches by culling them, because we have lots and lots of data historically from many different countries showing that that is the only reliable way to prevent the spread of H5n1 to other farms.”

Rasmussen says it is also very difficult to determine if the birds that survived the initial outbreak are in fact disease-free.

“Ostriches tend to get different levels of H5N1 severity based on their age. And these ostriches, as I understand it at the farm currently are older ostriches, which means that if they are infected, they may not have very severe symptoms at all. And while that doesn’t seem to pose a threat to the ostriches themselves, that does mean that they could be infected, potentially spreading it amongst each other and to other birds.”

It is unclear how quickly the CFIA could now move to cull the ostriches after the Federal Court of Appeal decision. In a statement, the agency says it does not release details about operations at specific farms and whatever is decided will not be shared with the public in advance.