300 healthy ostriches executed by government firing squad after infectious disease claims

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) enforced the culling of 300 ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farms in British Columbia on Friday, initiating gunfire executions late Thursday night despite owners' assertions that the flock was fully healthy and free of ongoing H5N1 infection.

The farm's legal battle stemmed from a December 2024 anonymous tip alleging 30 ostrich deaths in three weeks; testing confirmed H5N1 in two birds, with records showing 69 total fatalities by mid-January.

Karen Pasitney insisted the remaining birds posed no public safety risk, petitioning Canada's Supreme Court to halt the cull for independent verification and study—the court denied Thursday.

CFIA proceeded without updated testing, citing containment needs, as trucks arrived around 6 p.m. Thursday; equipment entered enclosures amid echoing gunfire, observed by supporters praying and protesting outside.

Executions wrapped Friday, bodies left tarp-covered in the pen.

Katie Pasitney, Karen's daughter, said: “They made a mistake, these animals aren't poultry, some of them were 35 years old, and every single one had a name. My mom lost everything she loved. Those birds were all that kept her happy. They killed all her babies, and now they're still lying there under a tarp.”

Karen Pasitney raged: “They are all gone. They need to pay for this. The world needs to know the monsters they are. They brought war to our farm last night... Just to kill healthy animals. When did we stop valuing life? You can't just keep killing everything.”

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned in an open letter that “the indiscriminate destruction of entire flocks without up-to-date testing and evaluation can have significant consequences, including the loss of valuable genetic stock that may help explain risk factors for H5N1 mortality.”

Dr. Mehmet Oz and John Catsimatidis backed pleas for immune response analysis over eradication.

CFIA claimed the cull averted spread to wild/domestic birds, but compensation falls short of market value, bankrupting Struthio BioScience Inc.—the farm's 2020 shift to immunoglobulin Y antibodies from egg yolks, proven effective against COVID and H5N1 in pre-cull petitions.