Universal Ostrich Farm of British Columbia has won an appeal against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, relieving it of a conviction and $10,000 fine.
The company did, however, lose all of its approximately 300 ostriches which the CFIA shot to prevent the spread of highly-infectious avian influenza that had infected some birds in the flock about two years earlier.
It took two years for the CFIA to overcome appeals and court cases so it could carry out its orders.
But it lost its case for the $10,000 fine and failure to comply with CFIA orders because Patricia Farnese of the of the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal ruled that it did not property deliver a personal notice of violation of its orders.
Farnese did not rule on a number of other issues the lawyer for the ostrich farm raised.
It argued that the NOV (notice of violation) was unfair because the conditions they were alleged to have breached were designed for quarantining poultry and were either impractical or ineffective when dealing with ostriches.
Universal also claimed that the conditions imposed to prevent wild birds from coming into contact with the ostriches, their feed and water were either impossible or impractical.
Finally, they argued that the NOV is unjust because the continuation of the quarantine order was unwarranted. It said its ostriches were no longer dying of avian influenza.
