A sign calling for the protection of ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farms is displayed in Edgewood, B.C., on Saturday, May 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Hemens

EDGEWOOD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — Mounties say they have been requested to attend an ostrich farm in British Columbia's Interior where about 400 birds have been ordered culled after avian flu swept through the flock last year.

An RCMP statement says police support is being given to the lead agency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which has been "granted lawful authority to execute a search warrant."

A spokeswoman for Universal Ostrich Farms, Katie Pasitney, says in a video posted on Facebook that a convoy of police vehicles and waste disposal trucks rolled up Monday outside the property in Edgewood, B.C.

The video posted Monday shows the vehicles driving along the road heading toward the farm.

Pasitney asks the farm's followers in the video to please "stop the massacre" from happening.

"This is your day. RCMP, to serve and protect. You don't serve and kill innocent animals that are unarmed, that don't have a voice," she says.

In a later video Pasitney, whose mother co-owns the farm, says they have been informed that there are "three search warrants" and says the family does not want violence.

The farm had called on supporters to gather at the property this weekend ahead of the expected cull, though the federal agency would not provide specifics on when it was going to happen.

The fight between the farm and the federal agency dates back to the outbreak of avian flu in December that would go on to kill 69 ostriches.

The entire flock of nearly 400 remaining birds was ordered culled on the farm, located about 570 kilometres east of Vancouver in southeastern B.C.

What followed was months of court arguments, with the farm insisting the birds are now healthy, have scientific value, and should be saved, but the CFIA said the case involved a unique and more lethal strain of the avian influenza virus.

In court documents, the agency argued it doesn’t know how likely it is that the ostriches at the farm remain infected, or will become infected.

Earlier this month a Federal Court of Appeal judge ruled the cull must be allowed to proceed, denying a request from the farm for another stay while it applies to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The judge said the farm has not established that its final proposed appeal "raises a serious or arguable issue."

At the time, Pasitney said the farm still intended to apply to Canada's highest court. They have until Oct. 3 to make that application.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025