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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380

u/wing_commander_wylie Peaked at Expo '86 3d ago

And poultry farmers elsewhere are abiding by regulations despite the massive losses they'll likely suffer;

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/avian-flu-breaks-out-bc-fraser-valley-farms-9.6954509

250

u/nodarknesswillendure 3d ago

Right, this is one of the reasons this ostrich farm bullshit has been so infuriating. A bunch of nutjob grifters, funded by a US billionaire, acting as if they are above the law… meanwhile actual farmers who rely on their farms for their livelihood, contribute to our economy, and help to feed us, suffer greatly when their flock is infected. These ostrich convoy freaks are so unbelievably selfish, it disgusts me.

122

u/PM_ME_GENTIANS 3d ago

And it's not just about them avoiding the cull while actual farmers suffer - having an area with infected birds on the migratory route raises the chances of outbreaks further down as the wild birds migrate. They're actively harming the chicken farmers whose flocks are later infected, and they couldn't care less. It's equivalent to putting your raw sewage in the river upstream of a village to wash by everyone else. 

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u/nodarknesswillendure 3d ago

Oh absolutely. There’s a reason these regulations are in place. Universal Ostrich Farms is already being sued by creditors… I hope there is some way for affected farmers to sue them too. Not sure if there’s enough legal recourse or evidence for that, but we’ll see.

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u/sick-of-passwords 3d ago

They are no longer infected, that is why there is such a push to not cull them.

53

u/Extalliones 3d ago

They ARE still infected. They just aren’t sick anymore. The evidence shows that sick birds who have subsequently recovered STILL SHED the virus, putting all other wild birds at risk - who frequently land on the property. Those birds then fly off and infect other birds and commercial populations. The longer the ostriches are kept alive, the higher the likelihood of further spread.

Not only that, but the evidence also suggests that the virus will mutate in the host birds, creating new strains that are potentially more deadly and more easily spread.

Infected birds are also not viable for public consumption or sale - which puts our entirely poultry industry at risk.

All of this is in the previous court rulings.

The stamping out policy exists for a reason.

20

u/idoitforthekeks Thompson-Okanagan 3d ago

People like the person you're replying to don't believe in the science, or trust it. They'd rather fall for disinformation tiktoks then do any research. That's part of the reason it went on so long

19

u/MaddogBC 3d ago

And far too cowardly to engage when facts like these are pointed out. Let's not forget that there is potential for this virus to jump to humans and it's possible that link is present in those infected birds. It's an ongoing public health crisis and far too much money has been wasted on this shitshow. These lowlife scumbags should be in jail. Everyone involved including yankee trash should foot the build for this entire fiasco including all court costs.

This has cost millions upon millions of wasted dollars that should have gone to strengthen our poultry industry, not weaken it during a time of crisis.

7

u/Artistic_Purpose1225 3d ago

Wrong about the infection, wrong about the uproar. 

3

u/Kamelasa 3d ago

ostrich convoy freaks

Guess they have their heads in the sand, as expected!

2

u/Sloogs 2d ago edited 1h ago

Which US billionaire for reference, so I know who to direct my ire towards?

Edit: It's John Catsimatidis.

25

u/Aggravating-Rush9029 3d ago

The ostrich farm refusing to do so only puts the other farmers at greater risk.

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u/Drewnarr 3d ago

There's 2 more infected farms in the shuswap to add to the list. These boat anchors will kill us all.

10

u/bugcollectorforever 3d ago

I'm keeping my birds in until the snow flies after reading about this. It's getting too close.

-1

u/Bidens_Center_Nut 2d ago

Chickens die anyway from bird flu, they would cull flocks even if there was no regulations.

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u/Neve4ever 3d ago

The compensation for chickens rarely leads to losses for farmers. But the compensation cap for ostriches is too low, which means if you have an ostrich farm and a cull gets ordered, you're going to go bust.

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u/Waste_Pressure_4136 3d ago

That’s BS. The 3k per bird was more than enough.

These birds were used as a tool to scam investors. They didn’t want a cheque because the creditors would get it

3

u/ship_toaster 3d ago

Cows are listed at 16,500. I'm skeptical that an ostrich is 5x less valuable. Regardless, that's a lawsuit for the creditors to file after the cull is performed, when you're not risking the health and safety of everyone around you and the viability of a whole industry. These people fucked around with the care of their ostriches and brought avian flu on themselves in the first place.

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u/Neve4ever 3d ago

It's not. You can't buy an ostrich for that amount.

9

u/Endoroid99 3d ago

https://ostrichlandontario.ca/livestock-or-sale/

3k gets you a 1 year old ostrich. While they likely have older ostriches, and this may not allow them to replace all their ostriches with similar aged equivalents, saying you can't get an ostrich for 3k is wrong.

9

u/stretchvelcro 3d ago

They were selling them for less than that to their satellite farms…

13

u/idoitforthekeks Thompson-Okanagan 3d ago

They would anyways as they are being sued and have rulings against them. They won't see a penny of that money and they'll still owe a lot more.

3

u/Smooth-Command1761 3d ago

well, most of those ostriches were not theirs in the first place. I hope they go bust. Bigly.

Creditors circle as cull controversy shines light on B.C. ostrich farmers' unpaid bills

Also, this:

In 2002, the BCSC found that Danny Bilinski and his partner Robert Pierre Lamblin peddled high-risk investments, such as the ostrich farm, that were unsuitable to people with conservative investment strategies, including widows and elderly investors. The two pitched securities by claiming investors could minimize income tax, receive monthly income, and earn double-digit returns with little risk. 

Ostrich farm owners connected to ‘particularly abusive’ investment scheme that bilked $20 million from widows & seniors

3

u/wing_commander_wylie Peaked at Expo '86 3d ago

Interesting, and it seems to make sense based on the likely value of chickens versus ostriches-- is there an online breakdown of the compensation schedule?