An ostrich flock that has garnered international attention in the Kootenays has yet to be culled, but it is likely to happen soon.
Police and officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) arrived at the Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood on Monday.
They were met by dozens of protesters in support of the birds and the farm’s owner.
RCMP conducted a search warrant and set up a perimeter around the property on Monday.
“I believe they know there’s no virus in these birds now,” Dave Bilinski with the Universal Ostrich Farm said on Monday.
“That’s how nature works. We’ve got the animal with the strongest immune system of any animal in the world, is the ostrich.”
Katie Pasitney, whose mother is a co-owner of Universal Ostrich Farms, posted a video to her Facebook page Monday evening showing a CFIA official telling the farmers they would be allowed to stay in the birds’ pen overnight.
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However, the unnamed man says the CFIA has control of the property and there would be “consequences” if the farmers did not leave voluntarily overnight or on Tuesday.
The farmers have repeatedly called for testing to determine the birds’ status, and Pasitney told the media Monday that the farmers’ lawyer was filing paperwork in an attempt to have the case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
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 prepared to apply for leave to go to the Supreme Court of Canada, an application that must be made by Oct. 3.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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Ostrich cull looms at B.C. farm as owners told they must leave on Tuesday
