J. B. MacKinnon at Harper’s Magazine:
The ostrich controversy had begun when hundreds of wild ducks descended on the farm in the fall of 2024. Shortly thereafter, an anonymous tipster informed the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that some of the farm’s four hundred or so ostriches were dying. CFIA inspectors collected swabs from two carcasses, and a lab promptly found a marker of H5N1 bird flu, a fast-spreading and often lethal disease that many virologists fear could spill over into our own species at pandemic scale. Forty-one minutes later, the CFIA issued—Orwell would appreciate the agency’s flair for euphemism—a Notice to Dispose. A death sentence for all the birds.
Most farms in Canada accept animal culls as a grim but necessary measure to protect their industries from epidemic disease and trade restrictions. The CFIA has, without inspiring notable public outcry, killed millions of birds over the past five years in its fight against H5N1. But Universal Ostrich Farms, a beak-to-tail-feathers operation that has sold everything from the animals’ meat to salves rendered from their fat, chose to challenge the order as unfair and unreasonable.
more here.
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