Power-hungry feds threaten science, livelihoods with order to cull ostriches
"We need to stand together as farmers, as mothers, [and] fathers ... and we need to protect what we have left for our children."
In case you missed it, the federal government has order the culling of some 400 ostriches, after an avian flu outbreak. It threatens to destroy a family-run ostrich farm spanning decades ... all in the name of protecting public health.
Founded in 1995, Universal Ostrich Farm sells bird oil, feathers and skins to international markets. Their eggs are also shipped to a university in Japan, where scientists work to develop an H5N1 vaccine to combat avian flu pandemics.
"If we allow them to do this when we have science sitting here, and we have the ability to help mitigate the migratory risk of the avian flu and stabilize it worldwide, and if we can’t stop that here with our 400, there’s no saving anyone else’s farms," B.C. farmer Katie Pasitney told Rebel News.
After an H5N1 outbreak on the farm last fall, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) ordered all the birds on the farm be killed, reported the Vancouver Sun. If the family cannot kill the birds themselves by February 1, 2025, the agency intends to hire a third party to carry out the cull.
"This is the opening up [of] Pandora's box and my eyes to government [overreach]," said Pasitney, the adult daughter of the farm's owner.
🚨SAVE THE OSTRICHES! Help stop the Canadian government's cruel killing order
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 24, 2025
Hundreds of healthy, immune ostriches are set to be slaughtered by government mandate while groundbreaking research and a family farm’s livelihood hang in the balance.https://t.co/tikKZEgFoq
Having grown up with these birds, she describes in detail how they found themself awaiting the death order, a measure she considers senseless and unjust. If the CFIA refuses to revise their culling order for the apparently healthy flock, it could set a dangerous precedent for farmers across Canada.
Pasitney says farmers have the right to raise their livestock how they want without government interference. "If they are allowed to do this to our 400-pound animals, you're next."
Agency officials recently canceled an in-person visit to the quarantine zone this month on account of a peaceful protest away from the effected animals. They followed up with a threat to involve the RCMP.
“We can’t shoot them [the ostriches]. That will cause mass panic. We can’t gas them because we don’t have an enclosed space like a chicken farm. Maybe we slit their throats, but they run at 65 kilometres an hour,” Pasitney told the Sun in a prior interview.
"These are just farmers trying to make the world a better place," she said. "We need to stand together as farmers, as mothers, [and] fathers ... and we need to protect what we have left for our children."
Click "EDIT AND SEND EMAIL" below to email the following officials to demand the CIFA and Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food reverse this scheduled massacre!
- Paul MacKinnon, President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
- CFAO Appeals & Complaints
- Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
- John Barlow, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Agri-Food and Food Security
- Cortnie Fotheringham, CFIA/AFIA Supervisor
- Hui Hang, CFIA/AFIA Director of Animal Health
- Carlie Watson, CFIA/AFIA Head of Western Operations
- The Animal Health Centre at CFIA/AFIA
Drea Humphrey
B.C. Bureau Chief
Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.

COMMENTS
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Jeff Carroll commented 2025-01-28 00:12:11 -0500The degree of governmental hubris, overreach, and indescribable lack of any common is appalling and abhorrent. Following this ruling, should I, as a Canadian fear MAID when I recover from disease?
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Meir Muradov commented 2025-01-27 19:30:42 -0500Our corrupt government has nothing better to worry about than persecute poor farmers. They better focus on the economy that falling apart.
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-01-27 18:47:05 -0500Stupid governments! Let farmers decide if animals need culling. It’s a huge expense for them but cubical-dwelling bureaucrats have no inklings of farm life. I get the impression from this story that some bureaucrat is exercising power for the sake of exercising authority.
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Allen Wild commented 2025-01-27 12:42:00 -0500It is very disturbing to see governments cull animals like cattle, and chickens, even though there is no evidence that they need to do so, despite their claims. Now they have added ostriches to their list when again they have no evidence that they need to do so.
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John Landry commented 2025-01-26 13:19:33 -0500Very Dystopian.