The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says that the “continuous delay” in carrying out the ostriches sacrifice in a farm in southeast British Columbia presents “potential animal and human health risks.”
The agency said in a statement that it will continue to feed the birds under veterinary supervision, and that it will use the feed provided by the regular suppliers of Universal Ostrich Farms.
The statement said that it has determined that there are between 300 and 330 ostriches in the farm in Edgewood, BC, and that the work to determine a more precise count is ongoing.
The agency also said that it has identified an ostrich at the “with committed” health, but did not say what is wrong with the bird.
The birds on the farm received a temporary respite after the Supreme Court of Canada issued a last -minute stay of the sacrifice earlier this week.
The sacrifice was ordered after an avian flu outbreak on the farm, but the farm owners have challenged the move saying that the birds that survived are healthy and scientifically valuable.
The CFIA said that after the confirmation of the outbreak, a laboratory in Winnipeg isolated the virus and the complete sequencing of the complete genome.
He said that the virus is a “new rearrangement” that is not seen in other parts of Canada, including a genotype that has been associated with a human infection in a poultry worker in Ohio.
“Laboratory analysis also found that this new reorganization event has improved the pathogenicity of this particular H5N1 genotype,” the statement said.
“Even the minimum quantities of the virus could be lethal, with a fast time until the death of 4-5 days in mice exposed even at low doses. In comparison, the genotype B3.13 (originally from a US dairy cow. UU.) It resulted in mortality in 3-6 days, but only in substantially higher dose.”
