The owners of an ostrich farm in southeastern British Columbia said United States health official and former television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz has offered to save the birds from an impending cull by relocating them to his ranch in Florida.
But Katie Pasitney, whose parents own the farm, said they aren’t interested in moving the flock, although they’re grateful for the support.
Oz joined Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in calling for the birds to be spared after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said they need to be euthanized to prevent the spread of highly-pathogenic avian influenza that killed some of the birds. Oz is the administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
There are protestors now at the farm trying to prevent the CFIA from enacting its orders.
Earlier this month a judge denied a bid by Universal Ostrich farms of Edgewood, B.C., to stop the order.
The president of the union representing staff of the CFIA said its members are increasingly concerned about “intimidation and threats” workers they have received online over the planned cull.
