400 ostriches will be shot in Canada (5 photos + 1 video)
In the wilderness of British Columbia, on a farm in Edgewood, hundreds of enormous ostriches, two-metre-long runners with powerful legs, are on the brink of extinction. Not because of predators or drought, but because the authorities decided to play it safe and get rid of the entire flock to stop bird flu. 
A harsh reality is terrorizing the Universal Ostrich Farm, where 69 birds have already died from H5N1, a dangerous strain that is already mowing down millions of birds around the world and even jumping on mammals, including people, but few people so far, apparently squeamish.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has ordered humane depopulation, which means mass killing, most likely with carbon dioxide, to prevent the virus from mutating and causing global chaos. 
Farmers Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski didn't go down without a fight. They claim that the 400 surviving ostriches are healthy as oxen, show no symptoms for months, and have even developed immunity that could be a scientific goldmine. Antibodies from their eggs are said to cure everything from flu to cancer.
They've filed a lawsuit demanding new tests and an end to the order, saying ostriches aren't chickens and shouldn't be lumped together. And a real circus has erupted around it: support has come from American heavyweights like Robert Kennedy Jr., the US Secretary of Health, who wrote a letter to Canadians asking them not to kill the birds but to study them for significant scientific knowledge, and Dr. Oz, who has offered to take the flock to his ranch in Florida. 
Billionaires, politicians like Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and even a 13-year-old girl who survived bird flu have sided with the farm. Protesters are flocking to the farm, setting up camps, and monitoring the roads with walkie-talkies to keep an eye out for the death convoy.
video-400 ostriches to be shot in Canada
But the courts were not impressed. The Federal Court in May, and then the appeal court on August 22, 2025, confirmed that the CFIA has the right to act tough to protect the health of the nation and $1.75 billion in exports. The judges sympathized with the farmers, saying, “It’s a shame, guys, but the law is the law.”
The farm was fined $20,000 for not complying with quarantine, and now can receive compensation of up to $3,000 per bird. Experts say the risk is too high, the virus can mutate in an open pen where wild birds roam, and hit people or the economy.
Canada has already culled 14.5 million birds since 2022, and British Columbia had its first human case, a teenager who barely survived. 
Now, on August 24, 2025, the culling could begin at any moment, but the farmers are not giving up: they are filing a stay of the order to drag the case out to the Supreme Court, and they are calling for a peaceful picket.
Katie Pasitney, the daughter of the owners, says this is a battle for all Canadians, against government overreach. 
In short, this is not just about ostriches: it is about farmers against bureaucracy, science against fear, and how one small virus can change a life. Just in case, we are monitoring the current situation, maybe the ostriches will fight back.
