Police tape is seen around an ostrich pen at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia, Canada, in a photo posted on social media by farm spokeswoman Katie Pasitney on Oct. 18, 2025. Katie Pasitney/Universal Ostrich Farms/Facebook

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday unanimously dismissed a last-ditch appeal by an ostrich farm in British Columbia to save its flock of hundreds of birds. The government issued a cull order for the farm's stock last year, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it would proceed with killing the ostriches to prevent an avian flu outbreak.

"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will be moving forward to complete depopulation and disposal measures as authorized by the Health of Animals Act and guided by the stamping out policy for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)," the CFIA said in a statement following the court's decision.

The CFIA did not say how the ostriches would be killed, but multiple gunshots were heard at the Universal Ostrich Farm on Thursday night, according to Canadian media. The gunfire could be heard on a live video stream on farm spokesperson Katie Pasitney's Facebook page.

Pasitney made an emotional plea to the Supreme Court to rule against the cull just before Thursday's court meeting, saying the birds were healthy and posed no threat.

"Supreme Court of Canada, they are healthy. They are everything that we have and everything that we loved for 35 years, please stop," she said in a video posted on social media.

It has been nearly a year since over 300 ostriches on the farm became embroiled in a legal battle between the CFIA and their owners in Edgewood, British Columbia.

In early December 2024, an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus hit the farm, resulting in the deaths of nearly 70 birds within a few weeks. The CFIA described the outbreak as "unprecedented" and warned that it could have a significant impact on Canada's poultry industry, ordering a cull of the affected birds.

"You want to know what pain looks like?" Pasitney asked in an emotional video posted online right after the court's decision on Thursday, showing her mother, the farm's owner, crying. "She is going to lose everything she has ever loved for 35 years … that's what pain looks like when the government fails you."

The CFIA said it takes its responsibility to protect the health of both animals and Canadians extremely seriously, and that it takes all disease control measures deemed necessary to protect health and trade.

"Given that the flock has had multiple laboratory-confirmed cases of H5N1 and the ongoing serious risks for animal and human health and trade, the CFIA continues planning for humane depopulation with veterinary oversight at the infected premises," the agency said.

The case drew attention from the U.S. government, with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with the director of the National Institutes of Health and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, sending a letter to the head of the CFIA in May asking him to reconsider the cull, arguing that the ostriches could be valuable to study.

"We are respectfully requesting CFIA to consider not culling the entire flock of ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farm," Kennedy's letter said, "given that a proportion of these ostriches were infected with avian influenza (H5N1) last year, we believe there is significant value in studying this population, for several reasons."

In a follow-up letter in July, Kenndey urged the CFIA to delay the cull and proposed immediate collaboration between the CFIA, Canadian researchers and the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, offered the farm's owners the option of relocating the birds to his ranch in Florida, but the offer was turned down, according to Canada's national public broadcaster CBC.

The CFIA said it would compensate the farm owners for the value of the animals, paying up to $2,200 per bird once supporting documentation was completed.

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