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The total expenditures incurred during a controversial cull at an ostrich farm last year amounted to nearly $7 million, federal officials have revealed.<\/p>\n
Around 300 ostriches were culled<\/a> at Universal Ostrich farm in Edgewood, B.C., last November after highly pathogenic avian flu was detected<\/a> among the flock. <\/p>\n It happened despite dogged protests<\/a> by a group of supporters and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s urging<\/a> to spare the birds. <\/p>\n A request from Scott Anderson, the Conservative MP whose Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee riding includes Edgewood, revealed that the RCMP spent over $3.8 million in policing the operation.<\/p>\n Anderson requested the data <\/a>from several federal institutions and the written responses were posted to the House of Commons website earlier this week.<\/p>\n It revealed that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which ordered the cull and whose skilled marksmen eventually killed the birds, spent nearly $1.6 million on the operation.<\/p>\n Of that, over $166,000 was spent on disposing of the birds, and over $150,000 on cybersecurity and office security.<\/p>\n “[Cybersecurity] and office security costs were incurred as a result of threats to Canadian Food Inspection Agency personnel across the country, at a number of [CFIA] offices, via IT accounts and direct threats to [CFIA] employees,” reads the response.<\/p>\n The bulk of the RCMP’s expenditures \u2014 over $2 million \u2014 was due to personnel costs, according to the data.<\/p>\n Anderson, in a social media post, was critical of the costs and said the CFIA has offered little in defence of its actions other than “bland claims” that its stamping-out policy is good.<\/p>\n “At a cost of over $20,000 per bird … the CFIA disrupted the lives of the farmers, the entire town of Edgewood, and ultimately galvanized thousands of Canadians,” the Tory MP wrote.<\/p>\n The CFIA has maintained that its stamping-out policy, which mandates that flocks with avian flu are culled, is needed due to the risk of virus spread and potential mutations, which would affect Canada’s food security.<\/p>\n Anderson also criticized the extent of the RCMP deployment at the farm \u2014 which eventually saw two protesters<\/a> arrested \u2014 and said it must have involved hundreds of officers.<\/p>\n “So while protesters sang around a campfire, the peace was guarded by millions of dollars worth of our national police force, which should have been out catching real crooks,” Anderson argued.<\/p>\n According to the Justice Department, the total legal costs related to the cull amounted to approximately $1.38 million.<\/p>\n “The services targeted here are litigation services as well as litigation support services,” the response reads. <\/p>\n “Department of Justice lawyers, notaries and paralegals are salaried public servants and therefore no legal fees are incurred for their services.”<\/p>\n Universal Ostrich’s birds became\u00a0the object of international attention\u00a0over the course of 2025, as the farm filed\u00a0multiple court challenges<\/a>\u00a0to try and stop the cull following the avian flu detection in December 2024.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the farm’s case after previous courts ruled that the CFIA’s decision to order the cull was procedurally fair<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769700130_126_default.jpg\")
Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee MP Scott Anderson was critical of the taxpayer dollars being used on the cull operation. (Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769700131_661_default.jpg\")
A sign stating Save Our Ostriches at the Universal Ostrich farm in Edgewood, B.C. The fate of the ostriches attracted a wave of dogged supporters, including Dr. Mehmet Oz and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Camille Vernet\/Radio-Canada)Legal costs<\/p>\n
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