Ostriches loaded in bins after shooting cull stuns protesters

A nearly year-long battle to keep a herd of ostriches at a B.C. farm alive came to an end Tuesday, as the CFIA announced its mass culling.

It had taken more than 10 months before the first gunshots marked the beginning of a cull of hundreds of ostriches at a British Columbia farm that was ordered during an avian flu outbreak last New Year’s Eve.

But it was over within hours of starting on Thursday night, and by Friday afternoon supporters of the farm that had fought the cull were watching Canadian Food Inspection Agency workers in white protective suits begin disposing of the carcasses.

A utility vehicle with a front shovel was loading the remains into large metal containers inside the hay-bale pen where the birds were corralled before the CFIA said “professional marksmen” killed the flock estimated to number 300 to 330 birds.

Shots began ringing out at Universal Ostrich Farms near Edgewood in southeastern B.C. shortly after nightfall Thursday as police blocked a road leading to the main area where the farm’s supporters had been gathering.

The shooting went on for hours as protesters screamed at the workers, calling them murderers and telling them to stop.

Earlier Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that it would not hear the farmers’ final appeal, ending the last legal obstruction to the cull that had drawn criticism from an avid protest movement and the administration of United States President Donald Trump.

The farm’s co-owner, Dave Bilinski, imagined the scene as a marksman shot down “on these defenceless animals … wounded birds down there all over the place.”

He also worried about supporters of the farm who were shocked by the shootings.

“There are many supporters here that right now need mental health (support),” he said in an interview on Friday.

He said the CFIA should have had mental health workers “right here, right now.”

The inspection agency said that using marksmen had been the “most appropriate and humane option” to carry out the cull.

“This method is consistent with Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and American Veterinary Medical Association recommendations and may be used as required, particularly when other methods are impractical,” it said.

The agency said the cull was completed under veterinary supervision and it “has now started the disposal stage of the disease response,” it said.

A CFIA manual on culling procedures, that the agency had previously said contained “best practices,” describes shooting as a method of “last resort.”

The owners of the farm had fought the cull order but lost at the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, while managing to stave it off with temporary stays.

But at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada cut off the farm’s last legal chance. There were prayer circles by supporters who hoped for a miracle, but the gunfire began under darkness around 6 p.m., with multiple shots in quick succession.

Farm supporter Janice Tyndall, 72, said she listened to it intermittently for a couple of hours before she “couldn’t stomach it anymore.”

The farmer from Salmon Arm, B.C., was back in her car at a different part of the farm around midnight when she heard the shooting start again.

“I’m thinking, ‘they’re still shooting? How could they still be shooting?’” she said.

Tyndall said the gunfire varied, with some “lower bangs” and others higher, “like somebody with a high-powered rifle.”

Bright floodlights and the large hay bales obscured what was happening inside the enclosure after dark, while supporters of the farm gathered at a highway overlooking the field, screaming at the CFIA to stop the cull.

At daybreak, the enclosure was filled with tarpaulins that were later pulled back to reveal dead ostriches.

RCMP guarded the site and blocked a road leading to the farm during the cull, saying their presence was necessary as security because of “weeks of threats and intimidation towards CFIA agents and contractors.”

A police news release said RCMP “did not otherwise take an active role in the cull.”

Staff Sgt. Kris Clark, who was on site at the farm on Thursday, said in the statement that the cull was paused for security reasons while a police shift change occurred.

“With our oversight of safety protocols, no one was injured during the dynamic portion of the CFIA operation, and no arrests were made,” he said.

The farm’s owners have said the cull was unnecessary because the surviving ostriches were healthy and had “herd immunity,” making them valuable for scientific research, while requesting that the birds be tested for infection.

But the CFIA refused, saying ostriches that appear healthy can still be a potential source of the virus and allowing the flock to live increased the risk the virus would dangerously mutate, particularly if the birds were exposed to wildlife.

Tyndall, who said she had visited the farm six times since the spring, including her most recent stay of two weeks, said she “felt every shot” she heard overnight.

She said she admired the farmers, describing them as fighting government overreach and the CFIA, which lacked accountability.

“It’s gonna ruin their lives, and they need a lot of support and thank God that they’re standing up,” she said of the farmers.

The farmers are eligible for up to $3,000 per ostrich in compensation, according to the CFIA, though Bilinski said he hadn’t heard of receiving anything.

Katie Pasitney, whose mother Karen Espersen co-owns the farm, said in a Facebook post Friday that the family was “broken and can’t imagine the suffering last night.”

She said later that they planned to follow trucks carrying the carcasses in a kind of funeral procession.

RELATED STORY: The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the ostrich cull case has ‘political implications.’ Here’s why.

This report by Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press, was first published Nov. 7, 2025.