A sign calling for the protection of ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farms is displayed at the farm in Edgewood, B.C., on Saturday, May 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Hemens
AJHEDGEWOOD, BRITISH COLUMBIA - An ostrich farm in British Columbia's Interior whose birds face a cull order has the support of a right-wing American influencer, who is asking for help from truck drivers to transfer the birds to locations in the United States.Â
Conservative commentator Chris Sanders said in a Facebook video that he would like to "help the ostriches out there in Canada" and relocate them locations in Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota.Â
The Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C., has called on supporters to gather at the property to save about 400 ostriches as the ºÃÉ«tv Food Inspection Agency prepares to destroy the birds following an outbreak of avian flu last December.
Sanders, who is a commentator on the American News Network social media platform, said the birds can be used for science to make antibodies against the avian flu.Â
Katie Pasitney, a spokeswoman with the farm, said she is aware of the comments from Sanders and is exploring that option now.Â
Pasitney has said that she expected the inspection agency to carry out the cull on the weekend or Monday and asked people to flood authorities with phone calls to tell them to "stand on the right side of history."
She asked supporters on Sunday in a Facebook video to watch highways and notify them of any "large police presence," since they need to be "emotionally and mentally" prepared.Â
The CFIA has not said when the cull would be carried out.Â
The RCMP said in a statement Sunday that the CFIA remains the lead agency on the matter.Â
"We are aware of this and other social media posts asking people to contact the RCMP. We would ask the public to leave emergency lines open for those who require immediate police assistance," said Staff Sgt. Kris Clark with RCMP E Division.Â
This isn't the first time the farm was placed into the spotlight. In May, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a letter to the president of the CFIA, asking that the farm to be spared from a planned cull.
Kennedy, the U.S. secretary for health and human services, said in the letter to CFIA President Paul MacKinnon that there would be "significant value" in studying the ostriches' immune response to avian flu.
The farm lost bids to stop the cull in Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, and last week was denied another stay of the cull order while it prepares to apply for leave to go to the Supreme Court of Canada, an application that must be made by Oct. 3.
This report by ºÃÉ«tvwas first published Sept. 21, 2025.Â
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