CFIA employees face harassment and death threats after BC ostrich cull

The dispute between the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and an ostrich farm in Edgewood ended when the ostriches were culled last night, and now agency employees are hiding their identities to avoid harassment and death threats.

After a more than 10-month court battle following a cull order for a flock of ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, where birds tested positive for the avian flu, the CFIA carried out the order.

The agency told iNFOnews.ca it would try to provide a spokesperson to answer questions, but then said that at the moment employees working for the CFIA are facing harassment.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a spokesperson. In the current climate, any CFIA employee who is publicly identified immediately becomes the target of harassment, including death threats, from individuals opposed to the CFIA’s eradication policy in British Columbia at the ostrich farm,” the agency said in an email.

The CFIA has denied interview requests with iNFOnews.ca and other news outlets during the ostrich dispute, and has mostly communicated through online statements.

The CFIA said in a news release on Friday that a professional marksman was used as the “most appropriate and humane option” to complete the cull of hundreds of birds at the farm.

“This method is consistent with Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and American Veterinary Medical Association recommendations and may be used as required, particularly when other methods are impractical,” the agency said.

A holding pen where ostriches were herded into a day earlier was instead filled on Friday with tarpaulins that were pulled back in some parts to reveal piles of dead ostriches, and a utility vehicle with a front shovel was seen approaching the enclosure.

The shooting went on for hours on Thursday night, after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled earlier in the day that it would not hear the farmers’ final appeal against the cull.

The outrage against the cull order has been consistent for months, but after the cull there has been a flood of posts supporting Universal Ostrich Farm and condemning the CFIA.

This morning there have been hundreds of angry posts on social media mourning the ostriches and condemning the CFIA. There are several petitions against the ostrich cull, some of which attack the CFIA, with thousands of signatures. The Universal Ostrich Farms Facebook group has more than 75,000 members.

— With files from The Canadian Press