Police probe threats of violence aimed at businesses linked to B.C. ostrich cull

Businesses across British Columbia linked or thought to be associated with a planned cull of about 400 ostriches have been “flooded” with calls and emails with “language intended to intimidate,” the RCMP say.

The birds have been spared for now with an interim stay by the Supreme Court of Canada, but Mounties say they are launching an investigation into “escalating threats of violence” against businesses that may or may not be helping the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The agency ordered the cull after birds at Universal Ostrich Farms began dying of avian flu last December, but the farm fought it in court and on social media.

The CFIA says it will comply with the stay and file a response with the High Court, while it maintains control of the ostrich enclosure at the farm outside the small community of Edgewood in southeastern B.C.

RCMP say threats against businesses escalated on Wednesday, when one company in the Lower Mainland reported threats that its offices would be shot up and its employees would be followed and shot at their homes.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said in an interview Thursday that there have been threats to burn down businesses.

“So obviously, very concerning, very violent threats that, you know, simply aren’t acceptable,” he said.

Farm spokeswoman Katie Pasitney has been at the centre of the movement to save the ostriches, posting regularly on social media and encouraging supporters to call businesses she believed were aiding the CFIA.

Among those targeted was a company she claimed “rented all their fencing panels to help kill almost 400 healthy animals.”

“I want them called and asked to do the right thing and demand their panels back,” she wrote in a post to Facebook on Tuesday. “Please try and find out the trucking company that is hauling all this hay.”

In an earlier livestream the same day, she encouraged the supplier of hay bales to “come forward.”

“We will eventually find out where they’ve come from, and you are not going to be a hero today,” she said in the video.

“You take all that hay back to wherever you came from because our animals are going to be corralled and blood will be splattered all over your hay bales.”

A wall of the hay bales was constructed around part of the birds’ enclosure later that day in preparation for the cull.

But several of the bales were charred by fire early Wednesday morning, with RCMP saying the cause of the blaze is believed to be suspicious.

Later that day, an opaque fence was installed in the field in front of the bale wall, which is about three metres in height, visible from the highway.

The Mounties say they have launched multiple investigations with the goals of making arrests and submitting recommendations of charges to prosecutors.

“There is no online protection for those who are inciting these acts under the guise of protesting,” RCMP said in a statement Wednesday.

“Companies have a right to conduct business with whomever they wish, just as protesters have a right to their freedom of expression and association.”

Some of the businesses receiving threats have been targeted in error, police say.

One such business was the Arjun Esso in Armstrong. The gas station’s owner Harry Thind said he is unsure why the business was inundated with calls and bad reviews earlier this week.

“The phone line was not stopping at all,” Thind said in an interview Thursday.

He said that when the harassment began, he had not yet heard of the movement surrounding the ostrich farm. His business was not involved in any way, he said, but his family and employees were being targeted “for no reason.”

“It’s going to take time to overcome that,” he said of the harassment.

A post to the farm’s Facebook page and reshared by Pasitney pointed out the mistake to the supporters. It said the Esso had “nothing to do with fuel trucks at the farm.”

“PLEASE Go and remove your bad reviews ASAP,” the post urged.

Another supporter who said he spent four days at the farm posted his own video saying he regretted making comments and posting photos of businesses and workers.

“None of that was ever meant to say we’re going to attack you or hurt you or anything like that. It was more meant of a shame thing but it was not cool,” he said, adding that he felt they “crossed a line.”

“I apologize for those comments and any photos that I may have posted I’m going to take down, and I think we all should take (them) down.”

RCMP say reports of the threats began Monday, when officers escorted CFIA officials onto the farm.

Some of the several dozen supporters gathered at the farm this week could be heard encouraging each other to write negative reviews online for any businesses involved in delivering equipment that would aid in the CFIA operation.

Clark said he’s aware of one business that has received more than 1,000 calls.

The RCMP have also seen an uptick in calls and emails related to the situation, he said, “although not necessarily of a threatening nature, more asking us to step down.”

“I think people know better than to call the police to threaten them with violence,” he said.

The CFIA said the search warrants authorizing the agency to take control of certain areas of the farm, including the ostriches’ pen, remain in effect.

The agency said it will provide “appropriate feed and water with veterinary oversight” while it has custody of the birds, which survived the avian flu outbreak.

Conservative Leader John Rustad said Thursday that the controversy does not make sense to him. He said the animals should not be treated like chickens and called for them to be tested.

Chiefs of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, meanwhile, issued a statement Thursday saying they do not take a position on the ostrich cull.

That came after the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said Wednesday that any action taken should be done in consultation with First Nations.

The farm has received international attention after months of court battles attempting to stop the cull, with the farmers arguing their remaining animals are now healthy and scientifically valuable.

The CFIA says the ostriches were infected with a more lethal strain of the avian influenza virus, and a source of infection or reinfection can remain in the environment long after individual birds have recovered.

Pasitney and her mother Karen Espersen, who co-owns the ostrich farm, received news on Wednesday of the interim stay moments after finishing a prayer with supporters gathered at the property in southeastern B.C.

RCMP officers called in by the CFIA to help keep the peace during the cull had arrested both women on Tuesday after they refused to leave the ostriches’ pen.

They were later allowed to return home, but aren’t allowed to enter the enclosure.

— with files from Wolfgang Depner in Victoria

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.