A ‘shocking’ process of killing more than 300 ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood is drawing complaints and criticism over the animals’ ‘unnecessary suffering.’
Animal Justice, Canada’s leading national animal law organization, has filed a formal complaint with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) over its conduct during the Nov. 6 cull.
Reports of the ostriches confined in a single enclosure and killed by gunfire in front of each other over several hours in the dark is being called out.
“Ostriches are intelligent, social animals with particularly strong night-vision and killing them in an enclosed space, conscious and aware of their companions’ deaths by loud, repeated gunshots, would have undoubtedly caused abject terror and suffering,” Animal Justice said. “Killing animals in front of one another is inherently cruel, particularly when the animals are part of a cohesive social group.”
Animal Justice claims CFIA’s actions likely violated both the federal Criminal Code, which prohibits causing animals unnecessary suffering, and British Columbia’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which bans causing distress when killing animals except under reasonable and generally accepted practices.
“The CFIA had nearly a year to plan for this killing, and yet the method they chose was shocking,” said lawyer and Animal Justice executive director Camille Labchuk. “Instead of prioritizing the welfare of these intelligent, sensitive animals, it appears the CFIA’s focus was on optics, hiding the slaughter from public view, rather than ensuring it was carried out in a humane and controlled way. Shooting hundreds of ostriches in full view of one another is a method that would have caused extreme fear and suffering, and it should never have been considered acceptable.”
The mass slaughter followed a lengthy court battle that began after avian influenza was detected in the ostriches late last year.
Animal Justice references the case of the Whistler sled dog cull, where a dog sled operator killed off dogs who were no longer useful after a decline in business. The court considered killing the dogs in view of one another to be an aggravating feature when convicting and sentencing the operator for criminal animal cruelty.
Animal Justice is calling on the CFIA to investigate the conduct of those who directed and carried out the killing, and to take all appropriate action to hold them accountable and prevent similar suffering in the future.
“While the courts confirmed the CFIA had legal authority to act in this circumstance, that does not shield them from scrutiny, especially considering the horrifying method the agency chose to kill these animals. The CFIA does not get a free pass from complying with animal protection laws simply because it was carrying out a lawful order,” Labchuk said. “The CFIA must restore public trust by conducting a thorough review of what happened and taking concrete steps to improve its approach to animal welfare.”
Before the mass cull, Animal Justice urged the CFIA to halt the planned killing and conduct renewed testing to determine whether the ostriches still carried avian influenza.
Independent infectious disease experts had suggested that months-later testing could reveal the birds’ current health status, potentially showing that a mass killing was unnecessary.