Gunshots ring out at B.C. ostrich farm as cull moves ahead

By Canadian Press on November 6, 2025.

EDGEWOOD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — Numerous gunshots have been heard at a British Columbia ostrich farm where the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it is moving ahead with a cull of hundreds of the birds.

The shooting at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., was coming from inside an enclosure made of hay bales where the CFIA had herded scores of the ostriches.

Supporters of the farm shouted “Stop!” and “Murderers!” during the shooting, which came after darkness fell.

The operation came after the CFIA said it was moving ahead with the “complete depopulation and disposal” of the flock of hundreds of ostriches, more than 10 months after it ordered their destruction amid an avian flu outbreak.

The Supreme Court of Canada had announced earlier Thursday that it would not hear a final appeal against the cull by the farm’s owners.

That lifted any legal impediment to the killing of the flock that the CFIA says consists of 300 to 330 birds.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2025.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

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