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2h ago

Supreme Court Halts B.C. Ostrich Cull

The agency faces an Oct. 3 deadline to respond to the leave application.

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Karen Espersen, the co-owner of the Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., celebrates with her family after learning that an interim stay order was granted by the Supreme Court of Canada on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, delaying the culling of 400 of the farm’s ostriches. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Hemens

Overview

  • Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin granted an interim stay that pauses enforcement of the CFIA’s cull order for roughly 400 ostriches in Edgewood, B.C.
  • CFIA remains in control of the enclosure and must file its response to the farm’s Supreme Court leave application by Oct. 3, after which the farm has two days to reply.
  • RCMP earlier arrested co-owner Karen Espersen and her daughter, Katie Pasitney, after they refused to leave a pen; both were released and are barred from the enclosure.
  • A three-metre hay-bale wall built to corral the birds was burned in an overnight fire that police called suspicious, and officers are probing escalating threats against businesses tied to the operation.
  • The cull was ordered after a December avian influenza outbreak that killed nearly 70 birds, and CFIA cites a more lethal strain and lingering environmental risk in defending its stamping-out policy.