Karen Espersen, centre, the co-owner of Universal Ostrich Farms, speaks with supporters with her daughter, Katie Pasitney, at the farm in Edgewood, B.C., on Monday, as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency prepares to cull 400 of the farm’s ostriches this week.AARON HEMENS/The Canadian Press
The ostrich farmers attempting to stop a government-ordered cull of their 400-bird flock in British Columbia’s Kootenay region have applied to the Supreme Court of Canada for a last-minute stay of the action while they wait to hear if the court will take up the case.
The owners of Universal Ostrich Farms Inc. sent an application to the Supreme Court on Monday, hours after staff with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency arrived on-site, flanked by dozens of RCMP officers to secure the small farm in Edgewood, B.C.
The birds, which were ordered killed last December by the CFIA – the federal agency responsible for food safety – to prevent the spread of avian flu, have attracted the attention of supporters inside and outside the country.
MPs and MLAs, animal rights activists and American right-wing figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and New York billionaire John Catsimatidis have made public appeals for the ostriches to be spared.
The family who owns the farm has consistently urged supporters to protest peacefully. But they have also led an urgent social-media campaign to apply pressure to any local companies, such as equipment rental businesses, identified as assisting the enforcement effort.
RCMP arrive on ostrich farm ahead of expected cull
They have already tried and failed to appeal the execution order in Federal Court, meaning Supreme Court intervention is likely a last resort.
Roughly 50 protesters heeded their Tuesday call to come to the farm and voice their displeasure with the expected cull.
Later in the day, the RCMP announced the arrests of two of the farmers for failing to heed orders to leave the ostrich enclosure. The police force had previously said it was helping the CFIA enforce three search warrants on the property.
The two farmers, who were released Tuesday afternoon on an undertaking they wouldn’t re-enter the ostrich pens, were later identified by the farm on social media as co-owner Karen Espersen and her daughter Katie Pasitney.
Meanwhile, the family’s lawyer, Umar Sheikh, said in court documents that federal food inspectors told the family on Monday the cull could happen within the next day or two.
His clients are seeking to go before a Supreme Court justice within the next 24 hours to ask that the cull be postponed as the family seeks leave to appeal, according to Mr. Sheikh’s letter to the court on Monday, which was obtained a day later by The Globe and Mail.
U.S. right-wing commentator Chris Sanders offers to house B.C. ostriches facing cull order
The document says Mr. Sheikh’s clients can address any biosecurity concerns the CFIA might have about the birds. Test results on two of the ostriches last December indicated they were infected with avian flu, and 69 of them died.
Mr. Sheikh’s filing says that there has been no avian flu detected in the surviving flock in the past 250 days.
Staff Sergeant Kris Clark, a spokesperson for the RCMP in B.C. who has been at the farm this week, said late Tuesday afternoon that his officers plan to continue securing the perimeter of the property and monitoring the protesters so that CFIA staff can do their work.
He said he had not heard any guidance from the CFIA about the farmers’ attempt at securing a judicial stay.
The CFIA has not responded this week to The Globe’s requests to comment on the situation.
The agency has previously said that while the birds have not been tested since December, they must be killed because they contracted a unique and lethal strain of the avian influenza virus.
Staff Sgt. Clark said Mounties are not wearing masks and other protective gear on the property because they are stationed outside the ostrich pens. Anyone going into the pens – which are now a quarantine zone – must use personal protective equipment and then decontaminate themselves afterward, he added.
“The information we have from CFIA is that the virus here is not airborne,” Staff Sgt. Clark said.
“It’s going to be only transferable in biological material, so as long as we’re not in the pen, rolling around in the fecal matter, the officers holding the outer perimeter aren’t required to wear any PPE.”
With a report from David Ebner in Ottawa