U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired off another powerful letter calling on the Canadian government to halt the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s senseless plan to cull a healthy flock of 400 research ostriches located on a farm in rural Edgewood, British Columbia.

Instead of addressing the CFIA directly, as was the case with the previous letter Kennedy and other U.S. health officials sent in May, the July 15 letter addresses Liberal appointed Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald.

“As of July 14, 2025, the remaining birds in the flock will have survived more than 170 days after H5N1 infection without symptoms or further documented transmission,” Kennedy notes, adding that this “exceeds the documented incubation and shedding periods for avian influenza by a wide margin.”

The political escalation of international pressure comes at a pivotal moment in Universal Ostrich Farms' fight to save the prehistoric creatures, as it was sent to the ministry the same day the farm’s legal appeal against the CFIA’s cull order was heard by the Federal Court of Appeal.

Represented by lawyer Umar Sheikh of Sheikh Law, the farmers are challenging what they say is an outdated and one-size-fits-all policy known as “stamping out,” which has already led to the culling of over 8.7 million birds in B.C. since 2022.

The letter further reminds Canadian officials of their previous scientific cooperation with U.S. agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for that same spirit of partnership to return.

It emphasizes how resilient or recovered animals have helped advance treatments for viruses like influenza, HIV, and hepatitis, and suggests these ostriches could offer similar breakthroughs for H5N1.

“Close study of the flock’s long-term survival may similarly aid future developments of treatments and/or vaccines,” Kennedy argues.

Farm spokesperson Katie Pasitney told Rebel News that they are “really excited and hopeful” about the letter, holding firm on farming sovereignty.

Help Rebel News continue its reporting on the Ostrich massacre!

For months, our team has been on the ground at Universal Ostrich Farms, documenting every step of this tragedy — from the first ominous signs of federal overreach to the night nearly a thousand shots rang out, leaving a field of hundreds of dead ostriches and a family shattered.

Our journalists confronted the RCMP, pressed CFIA officials, launched drones to reveal the truth, and refused to be intimidated or silenced.

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