By Will Verboven Contributing Editor
I expect many readers would be unaware of American involvement in a comic melodrama that has been unfolding in the backwoods of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It involves the usual theater elements – a heroic farmer against an evil government oppressor; valiant supporters willing to stop murderous enforcers from carrying out their despicable intentions; and, of course, a white knight from faraway coming to the rescue. What makes it somewhat ludicrous is that this spectacle involves the fate of 400 ostriches. Their fate has entangled the Canadian taxpayer, to the tune of millions of dollars in government legal costs, numerous federal bureaucrats’ time and local law enforcement attention.
The issue began when the ostriches were tested for the H5N1 avian flu virus, and 69 were found infected and subsequently euthanized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which wanted the remaining flock also destroyed. This is a standard procedure for controlling avian flu. That process has seen hundreds of millions of chickens euthanized across North America. No one seems upset when all those unfortunate chickens were terminated, most of whom may not have had avian flu. However, chickens are small, unassuming creatures that have been part of the food supply for millennia. Six-foot ostriches are a lot more majestic than lowly chickens. Ostriches have long eyelashes and large brown eyes that make them rather striking to humans. Their large stature, speed, crankiness and strength also makes them intimidating.
The ostrich owners fought the CFIA destruction order through the courts, which was successful in delaying the inevitable. In a stroke of genius, they began to plead their case in the court of public opinion, now known as social media. That instigated empathetic protesters to block a possible surreptitious ostrich seizure by CFIA henchmen. As luck would have it, that publicity caught the attention of U.S. Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy, Jr., and the well-known Dr. Oz, a Trump-appointed U.S. government official. They wanted to acquire and relocate the remaining ostriches to the United States for research into their levels of immunity and antibodies against avian flu. Considering the massive economic impact of avian flu on the commercial poultry business, any scientific idea that might contribute to its control is worth the effort. That might seem like common sense, but not to the nefarious Canadian Food Inspection Agency, an all-powerful government entity that controls animal health regulations in Canada. CFIA bureaucrats refused the U.S. request and enforced their authority by slamming a $20,000 fine on the owners.
Unlike the United States, the bureaucratic leadership of Canadian government departments and agencies are not replaced when the government changes due to an election. That means entrenched, entitled and partisan senior bureaucrats remain in place virtually in perpetuity. Overruling those powerful mandarins by government cabinet ministers is unheard of in Canada. Such a subservient approach by an elected government to its bureaucracy is probably not as prevalent in the United States as it is in Canada. For instance, the USDA has made no formal comment on the Canadian ostrich situation, awaiting, presumably, guidance from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture or Sec. Kennedy as to what they would do.
The CFIA wants the doomed ostriches disposed of quickly, but there are problems. Ostriches are big, strong and difficult to handle. Mass shooting would be messy, and burying them on-site would have horrendous PR consequences. The local landfill doesn’t want to deal with hundreds of ostrich carcasses. I suspect the Canadian Mounted Police would rather not deal with a media-savvy horde of angry, outraged ostrich lovers. So the melodrama continues. The real question with this folly is – why are there more than 300 ostriches on this farm or anywhere else outside of a zoo? They are not native to this continent and have no commercial value. Giant ostrich eggs, pimpled leather and feathers are sold as curiosities. But I don’t think that’s a real business. Ostrich meat, primarily derived from the leg muscle, is considered too expensive to raise due to its limited yield.
At the time of writing, the fate of the ostriches has been further delayed by the legal actions of the owners, who have received financial support from a New York billionaire. As admirable as that may be, it’s futile, and the only winners will be the lawyers involved. The CFIA won’t budge – it has a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money and government lawyers at its disposal. There has been a demand that the ostriches be retested for avian flu. The CFIA refused. The problem is what if retesting proved negative for all the birds, the CFIA might have to eat humble pie. They avoid that humiliation by refusing testing. It all boggles the mind.
What if this ostrich madness had happened in the United States, and Canada wanted them for research? I suspect the decisive Trump administration would have retested the ostriches for use in research or sent them to Canada, and good riddance to such useless, glorified pet birds. However, such common sense is not practiced by our federal government up here in the Great White North.
