{"id":274986,"date":"2025-11-10T21:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T21:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/274986\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T21:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T21:29:14","slug":"b-c-ostrich-cull-started-a-new-kind-of-war-after-birds-gunned-down-family-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/274986\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. ostrich cull started a \u2018new kind of war\u2019 after birds gunned down, family says"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: This story contains some disturbing details. Discretion is advised.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaking for the first time since more than 300 ostriches were culled at the Universal Ostrich Farm<\/a> in Edgewood, B.C., spokesperson Katie Pasitney said they are devastated by what happened.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) carried out the cull at the farm last week and confirmed that the flock of 300 to 330 ostriches had been shot dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RCMP did not even let us know that the gunfire was gonna start,\u201d Patisney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RCMP locked our supporters, they blocked our road, and they locked supporters out on the highway without vehicles, without their campers, without anything that they needed out on the highway. They stranded them on the highway. So for hours, those supporters had to listen to rapid gunfire of animals that were pushed into a kill pen.\u201c<\/p>\n

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The owners of the farm had been fighting the cull, which was ordered after an outbreak of avian flu last December.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

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On Thursday, the last legal roadblock to the cull was lifted when the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear their final appeal.<\/p>\n

Patisney said the death of the ostriches is not the end of their fight, but the beginning of a new one about accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur animals were gunned down in the middle of the night when they should have been resting,\u201d she added. \u201cThey had lights shining out on people so they couldn\u2019t see. They stood on top of these bales in huts with night vision goggles and they gunned our animals down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patisney also said that the marksmen had to come back on Friday morning to kill the ostriches who were not yet dead.<\/p>\n

Global News has reached out to the CFIA to confirm these details.<\/p>\n

Patisney also said they do not know where the ostriches\u2019 bodies have been taken, as they are considered biohazardous waste.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey don\u2019t want to give us closure,\u201d she added of the CFIA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t want to be respectful and give dignity or anything to these animals that they just gun down.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. billionaire and businessman John Catsimatidis was also on the call.<\/p>\n

Catsimatidis personally financed the farm\u2019s legal defence, saying he has spent about $50,000 in legal fees.<\/p>\n

He said he would like to see more politicians get involved in the issue.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCFIA completes cull at Edgewood ostrich farm\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARNING: This story contains some disturbing details. Discretion is advised. Speaking for the first time since more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,52204,990,519,2845],"class_list":{"0":"post-274986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-ostrich-cull","12":"tag-ostrich-farm","13":"tag-trending","14":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274986","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=274986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}