EDGEWOOD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — The Supreme Court of Canada has granted a last-minute stay over the destruction of a flock of ostriches until the court mulls an application for leave to appeal.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has been on the farm in northeastern B.C. for days preparing for the cull of nearly 400 birds.
The high court’s document, supplied by the farm’s lawyer Umar Sheikh, says the order stays the enforcement of the CFIA’s “stamping-out policy” until the application for leave to appeal is dismissed or, if leave to appeal is granted, until the case is disposed of.
Sheikh says CFIA will stay at the farm, maintaining custody of the ostriches until the rulings are made, and the agency has until Oct. 3 to reply to the application.
Once those documents are filed, the farm has two days to give a final response before the court makes a decision “subject to the court’s timing and discretion,” he says
The news came on the farm just as a crowd of people had gathered for a prayer, and supporters erupted in cheers when the farm’s spokeswoman Katie Pasitney announced the stay.
“God is good,” she says. “God won today.”
The farm’s co-owner Karen Espersen says the news made her feel numb, but overjoyed and that she wanted to run and hug the birds.
The cull order was made shortly after avian flu was detected in the flock last December and nearly 70 animals died, but the farm has been fighting the animals destruction in court and on social media since then.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2025.
Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
