The Canadian government ordered 400 ostriches to be culled after they were exposed to bird flu, but U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to save the flock.
Universal Ostrich Farms in British Columbia was ordered to cull the flightless birds after avian flu was detected last December, CBC reported. A month later, 69 birds died.
A court battle has ensued, with the farm owners arguing the ostriches should be kept alive to be studied for potential treatments. Although the court rejected the initial argument, the federal appeals court last month paused the order as it reviewed the matter; the court heard arguments in the case this week.
Amid the legal challenges the birds have found an unlikely ally to the south: RFK Jr.
“The Secretary has urged Canada not to kill the ostriches but to do further testing to try to better understand the virus,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told Politico.
The health secretary wrote a letter to the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in May, urging the agency not to go through with plans to eradicate the flock and instead test the birds’ antibodies: “We believe significant scientific knowledge may be garnered from following the ostriches in a controlled environment at the Universal Ostrich Farm.”
The cull was ordered as part of a so-called “stamping-out” policy, used to mitigate the risk of the virus spreading to humans or animals, according to the agency.
“Allowing a domestic poultry flock known to be exposed to [bird flu] to remain alive means a potential source of the virus persists. It increases the risk of reassortment or mutation of the virus, particularly with birds raised in open pasture where there is ongoing exposure to wildlife,” the agency explained in a May release after the federal court dismissed the farm owners’ applications for judicial review.
This week, Kennedy — along with Trump’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz and billionaire John Catsimatidis — sent letters to Prime Minister Mark Carney pressing his government to alter its policy, Politico reported.
According to CBC, Katie Pasitney, whose parents own the farm, thanked the trio for their efforts, saying on Tuesday: “I guess we’ll just see where that goes from here because we do know that Dr. Oz and RFK are very passionate about this, just as well as John Catsimatidis.”
In court on Tuesday, Umar Sheikh, a lawyer for the farm owners, similarly argued that the government’s policy was too strict, noting that hundreds of ostriches still exhibit no symptoms of avian flu. Only two birds tested positive for the virus before the cull was ordered, he said.
“We would ask questions such as why 100 percent destruction needs to occur based on 0.5 percent confirmed infection?” Sheikh asked the court, according to CBC.
Aileen Jones, a lawyer for the agency, argued that the court has already determined the “stamping-out policy is a reasonable policy,” the outlet reported.
