{"id":171405,"date":"2025-09-26T20:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T20:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/171405\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T20:50:08","slug":"stay-of-ostrich-cull-in-southeast-b-c-an-ongoing-potential-health-risk-cfia-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/171405\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay of ostrich cull in southeast B.C. an ongoing potential health risk, CFIA says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Canadian Food Inspection Agency\u00a0says\u00a0the &#8220;ongoing\u00a0delay&#8221;\u00a0in\u00a0carrying out the\u00a0cull\u00a0of\u00a0ostriches at a southeastern B.C. farm presents &#8220;potential\u00a0animal and human\u00a0health\u00a0risks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The agency\u00a0said in\u00a0a statement that it will continue to feed the birds under veterinary oversight, and it will be using the feed provided by Universal\u00a0Ostrich\u00a0Farms&#8217; regular suppliers.<\/p>\n<p>The statement said it has determined there are between 300 and 330 ostriches on the farm in Edgewood, B.C., and work on determining a more precise count is ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>The agency also\u00a0said it has identified one\u00a0ostrich\u00a0on-site &#8220;with compromised\u00a0health&#8221; but it didn&#8217;t say what is wrong with the bird.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The birds on the farm have been given a temporary reprieve after the Supreme Court of Canada issued a last-minute stay of the cull earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0cull\u00a0was ordered after\u00a0an\u00a0outbreak\u00a0of\u00a0avian flu at the farm, but the farm&#8217;s owners have challenged the move saying the birds that survived are healthy and scientifically valuable.<\/p>\n<p>The CFIA said that following confirmation\u00a0of\u00a0the outbreak, a laboratory\u00a0in\u00a0Winnipeg isolated the virus and complete whole genome sequencing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A grouping of about seven ostriches eating out of a plastic tub on a dirt farm. \"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avian-flu-ostrich-gallery-02.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4993646759847523\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>Ostriches eat their feed at the Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., on May 17, 2025.  (Aaron Hemens\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<p>It said the virus is a &#8220;novel reassortment&#8221; not seen elsewhere\u00a0in\u00a0Canada, including a genotype that has been associated with a human infection\u00a0in\u00a0a poultry worker\u00a0in\u00a0Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Laboratory analysis also found this novel reassortment event has enhanced the pathogenicity of this particular H5N1 genotype,&#8221; the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even minimal quantities\u00a0of\u00a0the virus could be lethal, with a rapid time to death\u00a0of\u00a04-5 days\u00a0in\u00a0mice exposed to even low doses. By comparison, the B3.13 genotype (originating from a USA dairy cow) resulted\u00a0in\u00a0mortality within 3-6 days, but only at substantially higher doses.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency\u00a0says\u00a0the &#8220;ongoing\u00a0delay&#8221;\u00a0in\u00a0carrying out the\u00a0cull\u00a0of\u00a0ostriches at a southeastern B.C. farm presents &#8220;potential\u00a0animal and human\u00a0health\u00a0risks.&#8221; The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-171405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}