Shots were heard at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., on Thursday evening, coming from a straw bale enclosure that the farm’s flock had earlier been herded into.
Over a 30-minute period at 6:10 p.m. PT, CBC News reporters on the scene reported hearing about five rounds of about a dozen shots each.
It happened the same day the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal to save the flock at Universal Ostrich from a cull ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
That lifted any legal impediment to the killing of the flock that the CFIA says includes 300 to 330 birds.
The cull was ordered after avian flu was detected at the farm last December.
The shots came from inside an enclosure made of straw bales where the CFIA had herded scores of the ostriches earlier in the day.
Supporters yelled from about a dozen cars parked along the road that leads to the farm as the shots rang out.
They shouted “Stop!” and “Murderers!” amid the shots, which came after darkness fell.
The operation followed a statement from the CFIA saying it was moving ahead with the “complete depopulation and disposal” of the ostriches.
Supreme Court dismisses appeal in ostrich cull case
Shortly before the shots were heard, CBC reporters saw field lights turn on that illuminated the straw bale enclosure that was set up by the CFIA to pen in the ostriches.
Reporters also heard a drone flying above.
CBC News has reached out to the CFIA for more information.
