BC Prime Minister David Eby says is frustrated because the Federal Agency for Canadian Food Inspection (CFIA) is refusing to review the decision to have a herd of almost 400 ostriches living in southeast British Columbia for the fear of avian flu.
At the same time, a conservative parliamentarian is trying to revoke the decision and the local regional district says that it will not accept the bodies of the birds in local landfills after being killed.
The events come so opponents of order is to gather more steam, although a court ruling this week found that it can continue.
Eby made his comments at an unrelated press conference in Victoria on Wednesday, the day after a Federal Court judge found that the agency is allowed to advance with the sacrifice that was first ordered in December 2024.
Eby said that both he and the Minister of Agriculture, as well as the “British Colombians” are “a little frustrated by the actions of this federal agency.”
“We understand the importance of containing avian flu and the important role that the agency plays,” he said. “What is difficult to see is a lack of discretion and ability to evaluate the case stages by case.”
He said that leaving aside the details of the ostrich case, it is a “consistent experience that the province has had with federal agencies.”
Conservative MP seeks delay
Prime Minister’s comments occur when the number of supporters who have met at the farm, Universal Ostrich, is growing in anticipation of a confrontation with the CFIA that said Wednesday that he will advance with the sacrifice after this week’s judicial ruling.
The videos and photos published on social networks show dozens of people, campaign stores, caravans and vehicles on the property, with flags and banners covered with fences.
The conservative deputy Scott Anderson visited the farm, which is in his driving, on Wednesday and said that the family that possesses the birds is “quite devastated” and that the order has caused a generalized fear in the animal breeding industry about concerns about the powers granted to the Federal Agency.
He said he was going to ask the agency to “retweate” to sacrifice because there is the possibility of establishing a property research center with the support of academics.
The owners have said that the birds, some of which have about three decades, have developed immunity to the flock to the avian flu since the outbreak was detected at the end of last year, and that living ostriches are valuable for the investigation.
“We’ll see where that is going,” Anderson said.
Claims of possible priests
CBC News has contacted two of the researchers that the farm has said that it is working on ostriches research.
Universal Ostrich says that their birds are being studied as part of an association with the Kyoto Prefectural University of Japan, which has Previously it was news for his work with ostrich eggs and detect COVID-19.
However, the university and principal researcher mentioned by the farm, Yasuhiro Tsukamoto, has not responded to emails or telephone calls of CBC News and otherwise has not intervened publicly in the case.
Supporters have also mentioned Stu Greenberg, a researcher in Massachusetts, who told CBC News by email that his work with the Universal ostructures focused on dietary weight loss, not flu or other diseases.
Anderson said that the federal court judge “understandably” did not want to evaluate the science behind the decision to kill the flock because he is not a scientist.
But he said he would offer to act as an “interface” among scientists who have left the sacrifice to explore alternatives.
“These people are my components and deserve my help,” he said.
The judicial case does not govern science
In his judicial ruling, Judge Russell Zinn said that it is important that the CFIA has the authority to fulfill its mandate to protect public health and agricultural industry.
Zinn wrote that it would be inappropriate for the courts to make a scientific decision on whether the sacrifice is justified, but instead said it is important to keep in mind that the federal government provides agencies such as the CFIA to establish policies and “issue judgments on complex matters and promoted by experience.”
Zinn said that while it is clear that bird murder would be emotionally and economically devastating, which should be balanced with the CFIA mandate to avoid the propagation of diseases such as avian flu that could affect human health, as well as its mandate to honor Canada’s trade agreements with countries that require that you take appropriate measures to contain diseases.
He also said that the ruling was based on the knowledge that the CFIA had when he gave the order of sacrifice in December, instead of any new information that may have arisen in later months.
“The judicial review should never be carried out with the benefit of retrospective,” Zinn wrote. “Although the infection had later decreased with many ostriches surviving, that could not have been foreseen at that time.”
The local landfill will not accept corpses without more evidence
It is that last point, the fact that many of the ostriches have survived, which is promoting the fight for the owners of Universal ostrich and their followers.
Although it is reported that a total of 69 ostriches were killed by the avian flu, the farm says that the last death arrived in January and in time since none of the remaining birds has been exhibiting symptoms of disease.
“Our animals are happy, they are healthy, they are putting eggs, they are beautiful,” said Katie Pastiney, who has been acting as a farm spokesman, is co -owner for her mother.
I was talking at a regional meeting of the district of the Kootenay center held on Thursday attended by about 300 people online, many oppose the sacrifice.
The local government has confirmed that the CFIA contacted in January about the acceptance of the bodies of the ostriches in a landfill, but that it has not received any information since then.
The authorities and staff were asked why the district was not trying to stop the sacrifice or the elimination of corpses in a dump of the district, while others suggested that the avian flu virus does not exist and the need for sacrifice was fraudulent.
During the meeting, the vice president of the Aiden McLaren-Caux district said the sacrifice was “horrible”, but the district “would probably have little legal position to refuse to accept the bodies in the landfill.
“We can say what we want (to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency). They don’t have to listen to us,” he said.
ULI Wolf, General Manager of Environmental Services of the District, said that the district had been told to wait for 50 to 75 tons of waste as a result of the sacrifice, but this was not a “significant increase for organic load” of the landfill and, therefore, did not present any risk to additional health.
Speaking to CBC News after the meeting, McLaren-Caux said the Board approved two motions on Thursday. One establishes that it will not accept the bodies of the ostriches until the CFIA performed more tests in the birds, while a second motion requests that the results of these tests are done public.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has defended its decision to proceed with the sacrifice, saying that on Wednesday allowing a national flock “to be known for being exposed to the highly pathogenic to remain pathogenic to remain alive allows a potential source of the virus to persist.”
‘This is ultimately a tragedy’: professor
Fiona Brinkman, professor of the Department of Molecular and Biochemistry Biology at Simon Fraser University, said the CFIA is in a difficult position against a highly infectious disease that affects not only birds but also mammals, including humans.
“It’s really difficult,” he said in an interview with CBC Daybreak South Host Chris Walker. “This is ultimately a tragedy of a pathogen that is now a threat to multiple industries and many animals.”
The greatest fear, he said, is that a new variant of avian flu could mutate that it is even more dangerous for animals and humans.
But, he said, he had waited for the CFIA to perform new tests in the ostriches now that it has been so long since the initial order was given.
“I hope you are going to do a little more research,” he said.
Daybreak South7:44The BC teacher believes that CFIA should collect more data before enforcing an order to sacrifice an ostriches pack
Fiona Brinkman is a professor in the Department of Molecular and Biochemistry Biology at Simon Fraser University. She weighs in the order to sacrifice an avalanche herd in southwest BC
Brinkman said that for most domestic flocks of birds, the mortality rate once the avian flu is detected is more than 90 percent, but that was not the case of ostriches, and most are still alive. However, that also meant that the virus could “persist” in birds for a longer period of time, potentially extending to wild flocks.
And, he said, since it is an outdoor farm, there is also room for new ostricin infections to be introduced.
“There is a real problem that birds cannot be protected,” he said. “Poultry, for example, you can put them in a barn. That is not appropriate for ostriches.”
She said that apart from the universal ostrich, there have been many other farmers who have had to see kill their whole flocks, as well as wild animals and marine life that have also died as a propagation of avian flu.
“My heart breaks,” he said. “At this time, there is simply no happy ending … we don’t want to go through a pandemic.”
