Why Saving 400 Ostriches in B.C. Is a Matter of Science, Sovereignty, and Sanity
The Canadian government's push to cull a healthy ostrich flock defies science, threatens food sovereignty, and reveals the growing influence of global bureaucracies over local agriculture.
In the rural town of Edgewood, British Columbia, a family-owned business—Universal Ostrich Farm—finds itself at the center of a storm that transcends borders and bird flu. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has ordered the euthanization of over 400 ostriches after a December 2024 outbreak of avian influenza. Despite the fact that the flock has shown no signs of illness since January 2025, and many birds have resumed laying eggs, the agency insists on proceeding with the destruction of the animals.
This isn’t just another farm story—it’s a flashpoint in a global debate over how we manage disease, protect food sovereignty, and balance public health with scientific integrity.
A Recovery Ignored
The CFIA justifies its decision as part of a “global response” to HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza), citing the possibility that recovered animals could still be carriers. Yet no recent evidence supports that healthy, symptom-free ostriches are vectors for disease. The birds have not only survived the virus but have recovered fully, suggesting a natural immunity—a scientific phenomenon the world should be studying, not exterminating.
Prominent voices have begun speaking out. U.S. Health Secretary and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.criticized the decision, urging officials to reconsider and allow further research into the flock’s unique immune response. (The Times)
Billionaire grocer John Catsimatidis echoed those concerns, calling the mass killing a “scientific and ethical disgrace,” and advocating for independent testing instead. (Page Six)
A System Built on Fear, Not Facts
CFIA’s approach reflects a broader global trend: reactionary mass culling policies driven by centralized, bureaucratic fears—policies that have so far failed to stop the spread of avian flu. Over 7.5 million birds were culled in Canada in 2022 alone, the vast majority from large-scale commercial operations, not small farms. (CFIA Report)
The ostrich farm in question operates nothing like a factory poultry plant. It is a small-scale, free-range operation. Yet, enforcement and punishment disproportionately target operations like these, while the big agri-corporations continue business as usual.
The Bigger Picture: Food Sovereignty at Risk
This isn’t the first time heavy-handed disease responses have trampled small farmers. During the mad cow crisis of the 1990s, similar mass cullings destroyed thousands of small cattle operations in the UK while leaving the factory farm model intact. (The Guardian)
If history repeats, we risk handing even more control to multinational agriculture and removing self-sufficiency from local communities.
What’s more disturbing is that this rigid policy appears to be influenced by a global bureaucracy. The CFIA defends its order as part of a coordinated response with UN-aligned bodies like the FAO and World Health Organization (WHO)—raising legitimate concerns about sovereignty. (Vernon Morning Star)
Local Resistance, Global Implications
Despite the court ruling that permits the cull, public pushback has been fierce. Hundreds of people have visited the farm in protest. Even the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) refused to accept the carcasses at public landfills without further testing—an implicit rebuke of CFIA’s approach. (CityNews Vancouver)
The owners of Universal Ostrich Farm are still calling for more humane and logical solutions—like ongoing monitoring, research collaboration, and isolation zones—instead of blind extermination.
Conclusion: What’s at Stake
We cannot ignore what this case symbolizes. It is a test of whether science and sovereignty still hold sway in agricultural policy—or whether fear, bureaucracy, and monopolistic power have taken over.
Ostriches that survived bird flu without vaccination and without spreading the disease should not be a threat. They should be a beacon. If these birds are killed, we lose an opportunity to learn, to adapt, and to move toward smarter, science-based biosecurity policies.
Today it’s ostriches. Tomorrow it could be your chickens, your farm, your food supply. If we believe in the right to farm, to raise healthy animals, and to pursue better solutions, then we must defend this farm and demand a reversal of this senseless policy.
Let’s use science, not fear. Let’s preserve freedom, not bureaucracy. Let’s defend the right to farm.