Dr. Oz, New York billionaire spearhead effort to save B.C. ostriches

Dr. Oz, along with U.S. billionaire John Catsimatidis, condemns Canada’s cull of 400 ostriches and offers to rescue the birds from “death row.”

A former U.S. television personality turned U.S. President Donald Trump appointee, and a New York billionaire are calling on the Canadian government to save nearly 400 ostriches in British Columbia that are expected to be culled after a 2024 avian flu outbreak.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, now the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in a Monday news conference that the two countries need to try to find some middle ground to save the birds in the name of science.

“We have an incredible opportunity to advance science, something that just was handed to us by perhaps a freak of nature. These birds were able to withstand this potentially devastating H5N1 avian flu virus. Why would we throw away this unique wisdom?” he said.

Oz is calling for the flock, which he believes may now be resistant to the avian flu, to be studied.

“(The ostriches) have antibodies that they’re putting in their eggs. The hens... now have eggs that have antibodies in them and so for that reason these birds now themselves are resistant to getting the H5N1 virus. That has huge scientific value to the global community,” he added.

Oz was joined on the call by American billionaire and grocery titan John Catsimatidis, who is calling for what he sees as common sense to prevail.

“You know what the problem is? Common sense is not all that common. These are ancient iconic birds and now, I mean, they deserve to survive,” Catsimatidis said.

He has enlisted friends in high places to help pressure the Canadian government, including Oz and Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Oz said Kennedy has spoken to Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, about the ostriches.

“They are willing to research these animals,” Oz said, claiming Marty Makary, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, also wants to be involved.

‘They are thriving’

The cull was originally ordered last December at the Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C. when birds tested positive for avian flu. A few dozen of the ostriches died and close to 400 survived. The farm has been fighting ever since to save those survivors they insist are safe.

“We have had no illness and no deaths on our farm for 223 days. They are thriving. Our herd of ostriches is a living vault of immunity,” Katie Pasitney, the farm’s spokesperson, said to reporters Monday.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has maintained that even though the ostriches appear healthy, they could still carry and spread the virus.

“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,” the CFIA said in a statement on its website, adding it is concerned about ostrich to human transmission. “Ostriches are known to spontaneously develop mutations making the virus more infectious to mammalian species.”

As it stands now, after the farm lost its federal appeal last week, the CFIA can move in at any time to destroy the herd. There is no word on when that could happen, with the agency only saying “specific operational plans and dates will not be shared with the public in advance.”