B.C. ostrich farm facing $20,000 fine over failure to quarantine, cull birds: CFIA

Andrew Kurjata · CBC News

· Posted: May 30, 2025 10:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says that an ostrich workplace is facing a $20,000 good implicit nonaccomplishment to quarantine and cull its birds.

In a statement released May 30, the bureau said Universal Ostrich Farm has failed to travel national regulations, including not reporting the archetypal cases of unwellness and decease astatine their farm, and failing to adhere to quarantine orders.

"Universal Ostrich Farm was issued 2 notices of violations with penalty, totaling $20,000," the connection says, though it does not accidental erstwhile the fines were issued.

The in-depth connection provides much details astir the CFIA's inspection of the workplace dating backmost to December 2024 and comes arsenic U.S. officials, including wellness caput Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, person weighed successful connected the case, urging Canadian officials not to termination the birds.

Katie Pasitney, whose parents ain the farm, said successful a little interrogation with the The Canadian Press that she was unsure whether the fines were a caller determination by the CFIA but "nothing surprises maine astatine this point."

Pasitney told CBC News that the workplace volition contented a effect to the CFIA statement on Monday.

Many of the details successful the statement, however, were already shared during a two-day tribunal lawsuit undertaken aft Universal Ostrich received an injunction staving disconnected the order.

This includes the information that the CFIA learned that ostriches were dying done an anonymous tip, and that the farm did not quarantine its birds during the avian flu outbreak, which killed 69 of the astir 450 birds connected the farm, allowing chaotic animals and radical to freely mingle with infected animals.

"The workplace besides failed to undertake due biosecurity hazard mitigation measures specified arsenic limiting chaotic vertebrate entree to the ostriches, controlling h2o travel from the quarantine portion to different parts of the farm, oregon improving fencing. These actions importantly summation the hazard of illness transmission and bespeak a disregard for regulatory compliance and carnal wellness standards," the CFIA's connection reads.

The connection besides says the workplace has failed to substantiate its claims that the ostriches are being utilized for technological research, stating that the "CFIA has not received immoderate grounds of technological probe being done astatine the infected premises."

The workplace has repeatedly claimed that its birds are unsocial and tin be used to make antibodies to avian flu and COVID-19 but the CFIA says the workplace was incapable to backmost up those claims and that "further, the existent carnal facilities astatine their determination are not suitable for controlled probe activities oregon trials."

Universal Ostrich has filed an entreaty of the earlier tribunal ruling allowing the cull to determination ahead, though that entreaty has not yet been accepted.

The CFIA says the cull volition determination ahead, arsenic is indispensable to support nationalist wellness and Canada's economical agreements with different countries.