B.C. farm granted stay on ostrich cull by Supreme Court

Nearly 400 ostriches on the Universal Ostrich Farm in southern B.C. will be temporarily spared from slaughter while the Supreme Court of Canada decides whether to hear the farm owners’ appeal against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency cull order.

The court has granted a stay, which will prevent a cull from going forward until it decides whether it will grant the farm’s appeal application. If the appeal is heard, the stay will remain in place until a decision is finally rendered by the SCC justices, which could take more than six months .

Word of the SCC stay arrived on the farm, midday on Wednesday. Cheers went up from supporters as spokeswoman Katie Pasitney shared the news.

“Our lawyer called. The Supreme Court of Canada has granted us an interim stay,” she posted to her Facebook .

The development came a day after Pasitney and her mother, Karen Esperson, a co-owner of the farm, were arrested for refusing to leave the birds’ pen. They were later released.

In a statement given on Tuesday, the RCMP said two people were arrested for obstructing the CFIA agents from undertaking their duties.

The CFIA had served a warrant on the owners Monday and told the owners to leave.

The owners of Universal Ostrich Farms have been fighting the CFIA cull order prompted by an outbreak of avian influenza in December 2024 that killed 69 of their ostriches.

• New York billionaire prepared to fund B.C. ostrich farm's legal battle against forced cull
• Ostriches at B.C. farm have version of avian flu not seen elsewhere in Canada: CFIA

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