End of the line for the ostriches

[Catherine]

There is a whole history to the ostrich saga. It is easier to post the previous discussions than to try and explain them.

http://www.animalloverswebforum.com/show...p?tid=8566

The final hope was to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. They refused to hear the case. That means previous cull orders go ahead.

https://globalnews.ca/news/11513951/ostr...-court-bc/

This is a sad outcome and not what most people wanted. The ostriches had many supporters, but not in the court system.
The birds did have avian flu, but the birds are not sick now. That was last winter. If the birds were a danger, we would know by now. There has been no avian flu outbreak because of the ostriches. Since they recovered, it is a rare chance to study birds that survived the avian flu. I don't think all the birds actually caught it.
I  know we have a protocol to kill everything in sight if there is even one case of avian flu, but is that always the right response.
This is not the usual chicken farm. These are ostriches living under very different circumstances. Once the birds are gone we miss the chance to study them.

Some day they will look back on this and know they were wrong. That doesn't do the ostriches much good does it.
I doubt they even know how to kill them humanely.

[Catherine]

It is over. They have killed all the ostriches.

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/11/07...-complete/


https://globalnews.ca/news/11516647/ostr...irds-dead/


It is a sad day for the birds. It is a sad day for their people. It is a sad day for science and what we could have learned from these birds.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article...rotesters/


I am disappointed in our Supreme Court for not even hearing the case.

[Catherine]

The birds may be dead, but it isn't totally over. The ostrich supporters are not letting it go away.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Nelson/583...ainst-CFIA

One thought on the matter is the fact that CFIA refused to test the ostriches for avian flu.
What would they have found out if they had tested the birds?

[Catherine]

It is not over.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Nelson/583...carries-on


One thing to be considered is the method of killing the ostriches. Whenever the word cull comes up, animal welfare and basic kindness the animals is forgotten.
Just because they were under a cull order doesn't mean the ostriches didn't deserve to be treated humanely. What happened was not humane. It was an execution where the condemned got to watch others die before being killed themselves. They had to have known fear and distress for hours before they died.

[LPC]

This mass execution of ostriches was totally unnecessary and cruel, as you say. You are also right that the ostriches and their eggs could have provided valuable evidence of antibodies to avian flu.

There was, however, a darker side to the farm involved. The ostriches were apparently bred for specific use in scientific experiments. The press has been a bit shy about giving details of these experiments. The prospects for theses poor birds were not good previously, either - being subjected to injections and the risk of disease and death.

Of course, I wanted these ostriches to live, but I would have wanted them to have lived their lives without being used as injection fodder.

[Catherine]

I didn't realise how much the ostriches were being used. They made their scientific involvement sound like nothing. 
So sadly the ostriches were used all their lives and then they were cruelly disposed of.

I think the whole concept of culls needs to be examined. Cull methods are usually cruel. Animal abuse laws are totally ignored.
Chickens have been culled by turning off the ventilation systems and allowing the birds to suffocate. Animal cruelty laws need to apply to cull situations.
Just because an animal is sick doesn't mean it is okay to kill it cruelly. 
In this case the ostriches were not sick and they were not even tested for the avian flu virus.