The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday that it used a “professional marksman” to kill a flock of influenza-infected ostriches in British Columbia, ending a nearly year-long legal battle that had attracted the attention of U.S. conservatives, including U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“As part of its disease response policy, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) culled the ostrich population at a farm in Edgewood, British Columbia,” the CFIA said in a statement Friday.
The farm in question, Universal Ostrich Farm, remains isolated.
The statement added: “After consulting with experts experienced in managing ostrich disease outbreaks, the CFIA has concluded that the use of professional marksmen in a controlled farm environment is the most appropriate and humane option.”
Universal Ostrich Farms launched a legal battle against the CFIA’s decision to cull its ostrich flock, drawing the attention of President Kennedy and prompting the Canadian government to reconsider in May.
President Kennedy had argued that animals exposed to influenza could potentially be used to study the disease, but government agencies said there was no evidence to support this, and yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada refused to consider the case, removing the final legal hurdle to blocking the culling.
Katie Pasitney, a spokeswoman for Universal Ostrich Farm, told CNN that the killing is “traumatic.”
“There is nothing professional or humane about putting about 330 birds in a rectangular enclosure and shooting them in the dark of the night,” Pasitny said on Friday.
The CFIA ordered the culling in December 2024 after highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected on the farm.
In a statement released Thursday, shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the case, the CFIA referred to a “stamp-out” policy in which exposed or infected animals are culled en masse to prevent further spread of infection.
Farm owners disputed the CFIA’s conclusions, arguing that ostriches that survived the flu could provide research with disease-fighting antibodies. President Kennedy endorsed the idea in a letter to the CFIA after meeting with Canadian officials in May.
The ostrich offers “the potential to study both antibody levels and cell-mediated immunity to further our scientific understanding of viruses and immunophysiological responses,” Kennedy wrote.
But the agency called the claims of research on ostrich farms “unsubstantiated” and said the CFIA “has not received any evidence of research activity” on ostrich farms, nor has it “conducted any research to show that the ostrich flock currently in quarantine has the unique ability to produce eggs with antibodies.”
The CFIA finally took full control of the farm and its animals in September. Supporters frequently gather near the farm and hold protests. In a statement Friday, the CFIA warned demonstrators not to disrupt the operation and reiterated that flying drones over the site is illegal.
Throughout the controversy, Canadian officials have cited the need to prevent an outbreak that could damage the country’s nearly $7 billion poultry industry.
British Columbia has had more bird flu cases than any other Canadian province, with an estimated 11.439 million birds affected as of Oct. 28, according to CFIA statistics.
In neighboring Alberta, the next worst-hit province, an estimated 2 million birds are affected.
