Animal Justice has filed a complaint with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) after hundreds of ostriches were cruelly rounded up into a makeshift hay bale pen, and shot en masse at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia. The cull took place after darkness fell, causing immense fear and suffering.
Eyewitnesses report that the CFIA directed “professional marksmen” to shoot 314 ostriches inside the pen throughout the night. The killings began only hours after the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the farm’s final appeal in a nearly year-long legal battle over an avian flu outbreak detected last year. The birds had apparently recovered from the virus, but were killed anyway.
Animal Justice is demanding the CFIA investigate those involved in directing and carrying out the violent killing of these animals.
A Night of Suffering at Universal Ostrich Farms
Ostriches are intelligent, social animals with strong night vision and close bonds within their flock. Shooting these fast-moving birds in front of one another, amid chaos and gunfire, undoubtedly caused intense fear and distress.
The CFIA’s own guidance warns against using firearms to kill ostriches because of their small skulls and the risk of severe injury. In this case, those guidelines were disregarded.
Animal Justice believes the CFIA’s actions may have violated Canada’s animal cruelty laws, including both the federal Criminal Code and provincial legislation, which prohibit causing unnecessary suffering and distress. Killing animals in front of one another is inherently cruel, particularly when the animals are part of a cohesive social group. In one notorious case, a sled dog operator in Whistler, BC was convicted of criminal animal cruelty after massacring dogs in front of one another, and the judge found this to be an aggravating factor when sentencing him.
Animal Justice Called for Re-testing of Avian Flu & Halt to Cull
Before the slaughter, Animal Justice urged the CFIA to retest the ostriches and reassess whether killing them was necessary. Independent disease experts supported renewed testing, noting nearly a year had passed since the initial outbreak. Despite these calls, the CFIA refused to reconsider—and proceeded with the mass shooting just hours after the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.
Factory Farms & Risks to Public Health
The filthy, crowded conditions on factory farms are at the heart of the avian flu epidemic. These environments allow disease to spread rapidly, and birds are always killed to protect other farms from catching the virus. Since 2021, more than 11 million birds have been killed on Canadian farms in response to avian flu.
Documents obtained by Animal Justice show that the CFIA’s culling operations in 2022 and 2023 were marked by brutality and incompetence. Millions of chickens, ducks, and turkeys were killed using methods such as carbon dioxide gassing, neck-breaking, and shooting. The agency even tested nitrogen foam suffocation—a botched experiment that left many birds alive and conscious before being manually killed.
Even more troubling, the CFIA hired companies with histories of animal cruelty convictions, including Elite Farm Services and Hendrix Genetics. Despite their records, these companies were paid hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to conduct mass culls. Farms that failed to maintain biosecurity, thus causing the disease outbreak, were also rewarded with millions in government bailouts. Between January 2022 and April 2023, over $107 million in public funds went to disposal and compensation costs for more than 100 farms.
These findings reveal a deeply broken system—one that protects industry interests over animal welfare, public safety, and transparency.
True prevention begins with reforming the factory farming system that fuels these outbreaks. Canada must move toward humane, sustainable models that protect both animals and human health.
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