This has sparked a controversy here in Canada. Did a bunch of reading of various media reports. There are many and varied claims about these ostriches and their health status? The ostriches by all reports appear to have been involved in some sort of medical research.
Which makes them valuable birds because of what ever medical experimentation has been conducted on them.
Here’s my issue or my big question concerning these birds. Are they truly healthy birds?
If they’ve been experimented on and that appears to be the case, are they capable of spreading something into the wild bird and or animal population. I get that Ostriches are flightless. However other birds are not flightless. Ducks. Geese. Songbirds. Raptors. Varied other animals roam freely in nature. (fox, racoon, squirrels and the like)
Should any these other creatures come into contact with the Ostriches could they become vectors for some type of experimental virus and it’s spread into the wild?
In my opinion this does seem a valid concern. Though admittedly I could be mistaken. Below is an article that covers the Ostrich farm controversy fairly indepthly. Yes, its from January but of all the articles read, this seemed the most informative
BC farmers challenge government order to cull
The federal agency sent Universal Ostrich Farms Inc. a notice on Dec. 31 instructing their ostriches to be destroyed and disposed of by Feb. 1, but the owners are asking for more time to prove their farm should be spared.
They’re making the case that the flightless birds –
which are part of an ongoing international researchproject on COVID-19 antibodies – can insteadbe used to study the mechanics of the avian flu that infected the youngest members of their herd.Of their 400 ostriches, about 10 per cent have died since avian flu hit their property in Edgewood, approximately 200 kilometres east of Kelowna, said Katie Pasitney, who is the daughter of farm co-owner Karen Espersen. She said the flu spread after a flock of wild ducks landed nearby.
Daughter is claiming a flock of wild ducks landed nearby bringing avian flu with them.
Espersen has been in the ostrich business since 1991
. Three years ago they stopped selling meat, pivoted to conduct scientific research on the animals and founded a bioscience company to commercialize ostrich antibodies.
These animals are not being raised for their meat.
Since then the ostriches have been the subject of a research project in collaboration with Dr. Yasuhiro Tsukamoto, president of Kyoto Prefectural University in Japan, also known as Dr. Ostrich. He’s been extracting COVID-19 antibodies from ostrich eggs in B.C., building on his decades of research on the antibodies in ostrich egg yolk that can block infectious diseases.
Have the birds been intentionally infected with a strain/strains of Covid-19?
Tsukamoto said his research can be applied to avian flu.
“Currently, I have a stockpile of ostrich-derived neutralizing antibodies against H5N1 in Japan, primarily intended for use in masks. However, due to their exceptionally high neutralizing activity, these antibodies can also be applied to livestock,” Tsukamoto said in an email.
Tsukamoto has a stockpile of ostrich derived neutralizing antibodies. From these ostriches or other ostriches
She (Esperson) said the ostriches are on a strict quarantine protocol, pose no flight risk, and live in a remote area that’s not in the vicinity of commercial poultry farms, with the closest city an hour and a half away. She said the only people who interact with the animals are the farm co-owners, and that they disinfect the ostriches’ feeding dishes, step into foot baths at every barn entrance and sanitize the truck used to feed animals, which is no longer driven into town. In a statement to The Canadian Press, the CFIA said the World Organisation for Animal Health classifies ostriches as poultry, and that “Humane depopulation and disposal is required for all poultry premises infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza.”
Yet, we have a flock of wild ducks bringing the H5N1 virus to the Ostrich flock?
On. Jan. 10, the CFIA denied the farm’s application for an exemption path which exists for select flocks that demonstrate “significant genetic value to the industry.”
Flocks that don’t meet the criteria of rare and valuable genetics are ordered to depopulate, the agency said.
Dr. Scott Weese, an infectious disease veterinarian professor at the University of Guelph, said culling is used as an “end tool” to stop potential transmission.
“And it will definitely do that. The question is, do we need to do that? Are there alternatives that can be done that can achieve the same thing?”
He said this is where there are nuances that need to be considered, such as if the spread is containable and if culling will eradicate the disease.
Thoughts?
3 replies on “Culling an Ostrich Herd in BC”
Interestingly the ostrich farm saga has turned into a partisan issue- Which is very strange.
I’m just really wondering if there is some sort of issue with these birds that needs to be dealt with?
Hi Penny:
As with any infectious disease, as William Albrecht, PhD, used to say, “It’s not the overpowering invader we must fear but the weakened condition of the victim.”
The medical community almost never looks at the problem from this point of view. It’s just not in their financial interest.
Birds that become infected with avian influenza are malnourished. Well nourished birds do not become infected with avian influenza when they are exposed to it.
Often wild birds are healthier than domestic birds. It depends, of course, on the ability of the soil where they live to produce protein.
Here is an example for humans: https://price-pottenger.org/research/new-concepts-in-bone-healing/
And these Ostriches could well be malnourished and/ or their immune system already compromised by what ever medical research has been conducted on them? I just don’t know.
I’ll check the link, thanks