After an 11-month legal standoff, the Canadian government on 8 November culled a flock of farm-raised ostriches that had survived an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus H5N1.
Despite appeals to save the birds—coming from an unusual coalition that included U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and protesters who criticized government overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic—Canada’s Supreme Court on 6 November dismissed an appeal from the birds’ owners to stay their execution. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) then corralled all 314 remaining ostriches behind hay bales and had sharpshooters kill them at Universal Ostrich Farms. “The disposal followed all biosecurity and biocontainment protocols to mitigate the risk of spreading HPAI,” a CFIA statement says.
Ostriches are considered poultry, an industry CFIA regulates. The agency discovered H5N1 in the flock after receiving an anonymous tip in December 2024 that the farm had sick birds. Canadian regulations require the culling of an entire flock if even a single member is infected with HPAI, a policy called “stamping out” that, as CFIA notes, is meant to protect animals, humans, and Canada’s international poultry trade. But the farmers, who hoped sell antibodies from the ostriches’ eggs as health and beauty products, objected.
CFIA rejected their argument that the surviving ostriches were immune to H5N1, and, for safety reasons, would not allow testing of the birds for the virus. Protesters set up camp outside the farm, attracting international media attention.
Tarps cover the ground inside a holding pen
Tarps covered the makeshift pen where ostriches were held before a cull took place on 8 November.
Brenna Owen/The Canadian Press via AP
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