While U.S. scientists and agricultural experts call for reforming outdated bird flu policies, the Canadian government is preparing to destroy 400 healthy ostriches at a small farm in Edgewood, British Columbia, even though the animals have recovered from avian flu and pose virtually no transmission risk.

At the centre of the controversy is Universal Ostrich Farm, a family-run operation that’s now the target of a full-scale “stamping out” order by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The CFIA’s mandate is clear: kill every bird on the property, despite the fact that they’ve been virus-free for more than 260 days.

Meanwhile, in the United States, scientific and industry experts are saying what Ottawa won’t: ostriches are not chickens and they shouldn’t be treated like them.

The American Ostrich Association (AOA), which represents producers across the United States, recently issued a formal request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture urging an end to blanket kill orders for ostriches.

In an October 2024 letter addressed to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., AOA President Michael Lehman argued that ostriches’ biology and immune systems make them fundamentally different from conventional poultry.

“Ostriches are not conventional poultry,” the letter reads. “They do not migrate, they do not fly, and when infected, they have a high recovery rate with minimal zoonotic risk.”

Lehman warned that mass culling is an “existential threat” to ostrich producers, whose birds are long-lived and slow-breeding, meaning recovery from a full cull is not just costly, it’s genetically impossible. Unlike chickens, ostriches can live 40 years, and breeding new flocks can take decades.

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The AOA’s proposal calls for testing and quarantine, similar to the U.S. response to bird flu detected in dairy cattle not automatic mass extermination.

The group also noted that ostriches’ biology “more closely resembles mammalian livestock such as cattle” than poultry, and therefore demands a risk-adjusted approach.

When contacted by Rebel News, the American Ostrich Association confirmed it is aware of the situation in Edgewood and that American lawmakers have been encouraged to raise the issue with Congress and the USDA. The AOA reiterated that ostriches and other ratites have an extremely low transmission potential and should not be subjected to the same depopulation protocols as domestic poultry.

Despite that scientific evidence, the CFIA remains unmoved. The agency continues to prepare for a full depopulation at Universal Ostrich Farm, where pens and containment areas have already been constructed in anticipation of government-ordered extermination.

The owners have appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, seeking a stay that would prevent the CFIA from killing the birds while their case is heard.
If leave to appeal is denied, the cull could begin within hours.

The 400 ostriches in question aren’t raised for meat. They’re part of a research program studying antibody development and immune response, including parallels with COVID-19. Destroying them, researchers warn, would erase years of data and undermine ongoing biomedical work.

What makes the CFIA’s stance even more indefensible is that scientists are already engineering chickens to do what ostriches do naturally.

In the U.K., researchers have developed genetically modified chickens with synthetic “decoy” RNA strands that prevent avian flu viruses from replicating. The result? The birds might get infected but they can’t transmit the virus to others.

The science is groundbreaking and yet it mirrors what ostriches already accomplish without human intervention.
Studies have shown that ostriches produce cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies capable of recognizing and blocking multiple influenza strains, including pandemic H1N1.

Their immune systems exhibit broad-spectrum viral resistance, making them uniquely valuable in both agriculture and vaccine research.

In other words: labs are spending millions to engineer in chickens what ostriches already have built in by nature.

The American Ostrich Association has urged governments to see this as a turning point, an opportunity to replace panic-driven cull policies with science-based risk management.

But in Canada, the government’s reflex remains the same: destroy first, ask questions never.

The CFIA has already overseen the culling of more than nine million birds in British Columbia alone since 2022. Now, it’s coming for 400 that survived, recovered, and never transmitted the virus, a living example of what smarter disease management could look like.

The farm’s owners remain in limbo; their fate tied to a pending Supreme Court decision. Meanwhile, the CFIA continues to station vehicles and equipment nearby, ready to execute the order if the appeal is denied.

For those following the story, Rebel News is on-site, documenting every development from the farm as it happens.

To stay up to date and support this coverage, visit SaveTheOstriches.com.

Because this isn’t just about ostriches.

It’s about whether science is still allowed to question government orthodoxy.