Mounties say they have been requested to attend an ostrich farm in British Columbia’s Interior where about 400 birds have been ordered culled due to the risks of avian flu.
An RCMP statement says police support is being given to the lead agency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which has been “granted lawful authority to execute a search warrant.”
A spokesperson for Universal Ostrich Farms, Katie Pasitney, said in a video posted on Facebook that a convoy of police vehicles and waste disposal trucks rolled up Monday outside the property in Edgewood, B.C., located about 360 kilometres east of Vancouver.
The video posted Monday shows the vehicles driving along the road, heading toward the farm.
Pasitney asked the farm’s followers in the video to please “stop the massacre” from happening. She also addressed police directly.
“This is your day, RCMP, to serve and protect. You don’t serve and kill innocent animals that are unarmed, that don’t have a voice,” she said.
In a later video, Pasitney, whose mother co-owns the farm, said they have been informed that there are “three search warrants” and said the family does not want violence.
On Friday, the farm said they had received information from a source indicating the CFIA would be set to cull their birds at some point in the near future.
The fight between the farm and the federal agency dates back to the outbreak of avian flu in December that would go on to kill 69 ostriches.
The CFIA says the ostriches must be killed in compliance with international guidelines over how to handle cases of avian flu at commercial poultry operations, including ostrich farms.
Universal Ostrich, which used to sell their birds for meat but say they have since pivoted to raising them for use in scientific research, have repeatedly claimed that, because most of the birds are alive and healthy, they should be allowed to live.
They have taken their case up to Canada’s highest courts, which have ruled repeatedly that the cull order is lawful and in line with guidelines that grant the CFIA authority over scientific decisions in relation to avian flu.
The court rulings have also attracted the attention of dozens of supporters who have been gathering at the farm, as well as U.S. White House officials Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who have urged the Canadian government to allow the ostriches to live, with Oz offering them sanctuary at his properties in the United States.
The CFIA has repeatedly said they would not provide advance notice of when the cull would take place.
However, a B.C. vehicle rental company said over the weekend that their fleet had been contracted by the CFIA.
After receiving multiple negative reviews on Google and other review platforms, Clearway Trucks issued a statement to social media and its website stating that it had “no prior knowledge” that its trucks might be used in the potential cull and that they had issued a “formal demand” that their trucks be returned.
Late Sunday night, they posted to Facebook that they had repossessed the trucks.
