Controversial Canadian ostrich cull order will go ahead

Weather - Berlin 21°C

Controversial Canadian ostrich cull order will go ahead

THINGS TO KNOW 06.11.2025

Controversial Canadian ostrich cull order will go ahead / Photo: © AFP/File

Canada's high court on Thursday ended a months-long battle to save some 400 ostriches exposed to avian influenza that had attracted support from the likes of US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Change text size:

The final legal block to culling the birds was removed when Canada's Supreme Court refused to hear the case brought by the owners of the ostriches seeking to overturn a kill order.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it will now move forward with "depopulation and disposal measures" aimed at mitigating the risk of further avian influenza infections, after a December 2024 outbreak killed 69 birds at Universal Ostrich Farms in rural British Columbia.

The owners of the farm had launched multiple legal appeals against the initial cull order, maintaining that the birds developed herd immunity and could have medically valuable antibodies.

"They're healthy. They are everything that we have and everything that we've loved for 35 years. They're healthy, please stop," said Katie Pastiney, the daughter of the farm owners, in a tearful plea posted to Facebook following the court's refusal to hear the case.

Since January 2025, the movement to "Save the ostriches" has attracted hundreds of in-person protesters and a swell of sympathy online, largely pushing back on government health interventions.

The mobilization went international in May when Kennedy sent a letter to the Canadian government criticizing the cull as a "potentially disproportionate measure."

In October, American billionaire John Catsimatidis, who is partially funding Universal Ostrich Farms' legal fees, called on the Canadian government to allow the US Food and Drug Administration to test the flock, raising the possibility that the birds could be transferred to the United States.

Doctors and the poultry industry track outbreaks of avian influenza to prevent the spread of the virus to other farm animals and humans.

The latest data from the Canadian government indicates 50 outbreaks of avian influenza in birds across the country in November 2025.

Since 2003, the World Health Organization has documented 900 cases of human infection with avian influenza, more than half of which have been fatal.

(M.Dorokhin--DTZ)

Featured

Maradona bloated, bedridden and resigned before death, says icon's masseur

Diego Maradona was bedridden, suffering from edema, and appeared resigned to his fate in his final days, according to the testimony of the Argentine football legend's masseur at the trial into the circumstances of his death in 2020.

نوشا أوبيل: هل هي على مستوى التحديات التي تواجهها بوتسدام؟

تولت نوشا أوبيل منصبها مدعومة بثقة كبيرة. فقد حصلت في الجولة الثانية من الانتخابات على 72,9 في المائة من الأصوات. لكن لفهم الصورة الكاملة، لا بد من الإشارة إلى أن نسبة المشاركة لم تتجاوز 42,5 في المائة من الناخبين المؤهلين. ويبدو أن هذا يعزى إلى أداء سلفها مايك شوبرت (53 عامًا، الحزب الاشتراكي الديمقراطي) في منصبه. أما أوبل نفسها، فلم ترغب في الحصول على فترة سماح مدتها مائة يوم بعد توليها منصبها في 24 أكتوبر 2025. فقد أعلنت، في تصريح طموح، أن السياسة يجب أن تكون قريبة من الناس وشفافة وفعالة، وأن تكون الإدارة حديثة وإنسانية. ومن يثير مثل هذه التوقعات، لا يحق له أن يشكو من أنه يُقيَّم مبكرًا على أساس إعلاناته الخاصة.

Gazans hold mass funeral for those killed during war

In a cleared plot of land between buildings flattened by airstrikes in Gaza City, row upon row of Palestinian flags were laid out neatly over the remains of dozens of people to be buried on Tuesday.

Last Scottish island bird hunt banned after almost 500 years

A centuries-old annual bird chick hunt on a remote Scottish island, known as the Guga Hunt, has been banned this year, the authorities said Monday, citing conservation concerns.

Change text size:

Deutsche Tageszeitung - Controversial Canadian ostrich cull order will go ahead