In Canada, nearly 400 threatened ostriches with slaughter are at the heart of a legal showdown that draws the attention of American political figures, billionaires and activists. According to Politico, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leads a campaign to save these birds from a British Columbia farm, targeted by an order of euthanasia after the detection of avian flu on two specimens.
The case, now before the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa, challenges the Canadian “Stamping Out” policy, aligned with the standards of the World Animal Health Organization, which imposes the slaughter of all the volatiles exposed to the virus. “About 400 birds remain alive and have no symptoms,” argued the owner’s lawyer Umar Sheikh, asking for an exemption to avoid “absurd results dictated by an overly rigid application of the law”.
The Maga Movement in support
But the file took an unexpected political turn. Indeed, the American Department of Health confirmed to Politico that it had urged Ottawa to “perform more tests before killing the ostriches”. Mehmet Oz, today at the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under Donald Trump, even said he was ready to welcome birds in his Ranch in Florida. Republican billionaire John Catsimatidis is also engaged in the cause, saying that ostrich eggs could contain antibodies useful for human health.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued with Canadian authorities that “controlled scientific monitoring” of these ostriches could enrich research. And today, supports are multiplying: figures of the Maga movement to the activists of “Freedom Convoy” which had blocked Ottawa during the pandemic, all denounce a “disproportionate decision” and “obsolete policies”.
Decision expected in the coming days
In December, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (ECIA) had ordered the start of euthanasia: 69 ostriches have already died since. According to the agency, this strategy is essential to “limit health risks and preserve trade”. Since 2022, more than 14 million Bishop Birds have been killed in the country, including 8.7 million in British Columbia.
Our file on the United States
On the family farm of Universal Ostrich Farms, a real community has mobilized to defend animals, selling stickers and derivatives to finance the legal battle. The Court of Appeal is expected to render its decision in the coming days. In the meantime, the ostriches remain alive – and more than ever at the center of a soap opera mixing science, politics and emotion, and which, from Washington to Ottawa, unleashes passions.
