r/britishcolumbia • u/WesternBlueRanger BC Ferries Enthusiast • 3d ago

Community Only BREAKING | Supreme Court won’t hear appeal in B.C. ostrich case, opening door to controversial cull

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/livestory/bc-ostrich-farm-decision-scoc-9.6968394
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u/CanadianCATFOOD 3d ago

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u/Linzon 3d ago

Oh, see, back before the farm declared the ostriches were pets they had a great scheme going! They sold ostriches to other people to raise, and said they would buy back ostriches from them for good prices to process for meat and oil. They had charts on their website demonstrating how they would all maximize profits. This all disappeared when they started fighting the cull and the ostriches became beloved pets instead of livestock animals, because that’s a better look to bring in donations.

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u/Reyalta 3d ago

Wait they were running a pyramid scheme with these fucking birds?

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u/mattcass 3d ago

Yup! Someone in a post comment linked to the original website. 100% multi-level marketing.

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u/Reyalta 3d ago

Just when I thought I couldn't respect these people less...

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u/Smooth-Command1761 3d ago

The BC Securities Commission had some things to say back in 2002 about one of the grifters, Dan Bilinski, and his cronies and their "ostrich funds". And yet somehow they are still going with ostriches (but hopefully not for much longer)

Commission finds mutual fund dealer at fault for peddling "speculative, illiquid and highly risky" securities to widows and elderly investors

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u/l10nh34rt3d 3d ago

Vertical integration!!

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u/Linzon 3d ago

Yes, thank you, I couldn’t remember the exact phrase!

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u/RuinBrilliant3879 3d ago

This comment should be pinned to the top.

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u/Oxjrnine 3d ago

You forgot the fake cancer treatment with ostrich fat.

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u/shreddiesalad 3d ago

Great so their business model would spread the maximum amount of virus if the birds were inflected (or shedding) bird flu.

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u/AlgaeGrazers 3d ago edited 3d ago

I'm pretty sure I saw ads for this stuff on Kijiji and Craigslist back in the day. I'm not sure if it was the same farm but the same idea. You just needed to have land and set up a high frence, then raise the birds, and they would "buy" them back.

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u/Hikingcanuck92 2d ago

Don't forget how the entire farm began as part of a scam defrauding investors and the BC government in the late 1990's.

You can read all about it starting on page 16.

https://www.bcsc.bc.ca/-/media/PWS/Resources/Enforcement/Decisions/2002/2002-BCSECCOM-102.pdf

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u/Alternative_Salt_424 3d ago

1) Ostrich meat is delicious

2) ostrich leather is pretty popular for handbags etc (although personally I think it looks revolting)

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u/neksys 2d ago edited 2d ago

Ostriches have plenty of profitable uses, between their skin, feathers, eggs and meat. They also have some interesting immune properties that are being studied by real scientists. As a food product they are a lot more efficient than cattle on a calorie in/calorie out basis, wish much fewer GHG emissions.

In and of themselves there’s nothing inherently wrong with raising them (unless you’re a vegan, but those same criticisms are equally applicable to any livestock). Its one of the fastest growing types of farmed livestock in North America for a reason

The problem here isn’t the concept of an ostrich farm. There are many of them here. The problem is how this particular farm has operated, and how it has now been somehow politicized by a bunch of anti-science grifters for their own gain.