300 ostriches killed by firing squad on British Columbia farm over bird flu allegations

Over 300 ostriches were shot by authorities on Thursday night after the Supreme Court of Canada earlier in the day dismissed an appeal from Universal Ostrich Farms in British Columbia, which sought to keep their animals from being slaughtered.

Speaking with the Daily Mail, Katie Pasitney, daughter of the farm’s owner, Karen Espersen, said while sobbing, "they made a mistake, these animals aren’t poultry, some of them were 35 years old, and every single one had a name."

"My mom lost everything she loved. Those birds were all that kept her happy. They killed all her babies, and now they’re still lying under a tarp," she added. Tarps were seen on Friday covering the bodies of the birds in a holding pen made out of hay bales on the farm.

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday denied the appeal that sought to keep the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) from killing the birds. The CFIA had sought to kill the birds after some of them had been exposed to the H5N1 avian influenza in 2024. Of the flock, 69 birds died from the virus, while the remaining majority survived and had not shown signs of sickness. 

CFIA trucks and SUVs arrived at the farm on Thursday evening, and the sound of repeated gunfire was heard. The Pasitneys awoke on Friday morning to the pen being filled with the birds’ bodies. "They are all gone. They need to pay for this. The world needs to know the monsters they are," said Pasitney.

"They brought war to our farm last night … Just to kill healthy animals. When did we stop valuing life? You can’t just keep killing everything.

The case had drawn attention from Canada’s neighbor to the south, with US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr urging in a letter to Canadian officials, "the indiscriminate destruction of entire flocks without up-to-date testing and evaluation can have significant consequences, including the loss of valuable genetic stock that may help explain risk factors for H5N1 mortality."

The culling drew wide backlash across social media.