The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says that an ostrich that was part of a BC flock that recently received a last minute stay of a sacrifice order for the Supreme Court of Canada has died.
The agency says that the AVE of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, BC, had a previous injury and a pre -existing condition that hit its left leg and mobility, and the owners were trying for some time.
He says that bird’s health “decreased significantly” for a period of two days before he died on Saturday.
The farm spokeswoman, Katie Pasitney, published a video on Facebook also confirming the news of death before accusing the CFIA of animal cruelty, saying they had been “abandoning electrolytes.”
The CFIA did not immediately respond to requests to address those statements, but in a statement he said that he had been “managing medications and fluids of electrolytes consisting of the therapy regime provided by the owners.”
The sacrifice was ordered after an avian flu outbreak on the farm, but the owners of the farm challenged the measure saying that the birds that survived are healthy and scientifically valuable.
He was given temporary postponement after the Supreme Court of Canada issued a last minute stay of the sacrifice last month.
The CFIA has said that it will comply with the stay and present an answer to the Superior Court, while maintaining control of the ostrich enclosure on the farm outside the small community of southeast BC.
