Canadian court dismisses farm’s attempt to save ostrich flock despite efforts by RFK Jr.

By Max Saltman, CNN

(CNN) — Canada’s Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on the proposed culling of a British Columbia ostrich herd, in a case that has attracted the attention of US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

The court’s dismissal paves the way for the flock of around 330 ostriches to be culled. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) had ordered the birds to be euthanized after detecting highly pathogenic avian influenza on the farm in late December 2024.

In a statement published Thursday, the CFIA confirmed that it would move forward with euthanizing the ostriches under its “stamping out” policy, in which infected or exposed animals are killed in the event of a disease outbreak. The statement did not provide a timeline.

“This is the saddest day in Canadian history,” Katie Pasitney, the spokesperson for Universal Ostrich Farms and the daughter of one of its co-owners, told CNN shortly after the court made its announcement.

Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia says it is raising the animals to study their ability to produce disease-fighting antibodies. The farm has been embroiled in a legal battle with the CFIA for nearly a year over the matter.

The CFIA has called the farm’s research claims “unsubstantiated,” saying that the agency “has not received any evidence of research activities” on the ostrich farm, nor “any research to show the flock of ostriches currently under quarantine has a unique capacity to produce eggs with antibodies.”

The farm’s plea to save the ostriches from culling was heard by Trump administration officials like Kennedy.

After meeting with Canadian officials in May, Kennedy wrote a letter to the CFIA asking it to “consider not culling the entire flock of ostriches,” writing that the animals could be used to study the “antibody levels and cellular immunity” to develop cures for disease.

“We believe there is significant value in studying this population,” Kennedy added.

CNN has reached out to Kennedy’s office for comment on the court’s decision.

Pasitney told CNN that she connected with Kennedy through Republican supermarket magnate and lifelong New Yorker John Catsimatidis, who had taken up her Canadian farm’s cause.

Catsimatidis bankrolled the farm’s legal representation and called Thursday’s outcome an example of “government overreach,” according to a spokesman for the businessman speaking to CNN’s broadcast partner CBC.

CNN has reached out to Catsimatidis for comment.

Province struggling with bird flu

An expert in avian virology told CNN that the Canadian government’s order to cull the entire flock is in line with standard avian flu mitigation efforts.

“Whenever there’s a foreign animal disease affecting a country, it could be Newcastle disease or avian influenza, the first thing is to stop the dissemination of the disease,” Rodrigo Gallardo, a professor of poultry medicine at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, said. “And in order to do that, you euthanize flocks that have been infected.”

The Canadian government took control of the ostrich farm and its animals in September. Numerous people continued to protest outside the farm’s fences, and CFIA has warned the farm’s supporters from hindering government operations, or flying drones over the site.

On Thursday, an emotional Pasitney told CNN that around 100 supporters had gathered at the farm to protest the decision. “These animals don’t deserve to die,” Pasitney said. “They are our family members.”

“The CFIA has respected all orders and decisions of the courts throughout the legal process,” the agency said on Thursday, “and expects the ostrich farm owners and supporters to do the same now that the Supreme Court of Canada has issued its judgment.”

In ordering the culling, CFIA repeatedly cited the need to prevent damage to the country’s nearly $7 billion poultry industry.

British Columbia has struggled more with bird flu than any other Canadian province, according to CFIA’s statistics, with an estimated 11,439,000 birds affected as of October 28. The next-closest ranked province, Alberta, has an estimated two million birds impacted.

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