OTTAWA — A Canadian Food Inspection Agency document on culling birds describes how ostriches should be killed, by methods that can include breaking their necks, lethal injection, gassing or shooting.
While the CFIA has repeatedly said it will not discuss its procedures in relation to a possible cull at an ostrich farm in British Columbia, an internal manual from 2016 describes various strategies.
These include having someone sit on an ostrich’s back while another injects a lethal drug.
The manual was part of an access-to-information response released in July 2023 and uploaded by the Investigative Journalism Foundation eight months ago.
The Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to decide on Thursday whether to hear a final appeal by Universal Ostrich Farms against a cull of hundreds of bird ordered by the inspection agency last December over an avian flu outbreak.
The agency manual says lethal drugs can be injected in the right jugular or wing vein of an ostrich, taking effect in two to 10 seconds, or to the head in an “intercranial” injection that requires three people to administer, “one to hold the bird by sitting on its back, one to hold the head, and one to inject the drug.”
Intercranial injection is said to be “quick and minimally stressful to the bird, though may be emotional for owners to watch.”
It says sedation should be considered for ostriches before euthanasia since they can be “large, uncontrollable, or dangerous.”
“Sedative drugs are administered intramuscularly, either by syringe or by air rifle darting,” the manual suggests.
“Ostriches, especially males during mating season, are extremely dangerous,” it goes on.
“With the owner’s help, lure the ostrich with food into a position where it can be restrained. Place a hood over the bird’s head (e.g. the cutoff sleeve of an elastic material, such as a sweatshirt sleeve). Once the ostrich is hooded, it can easily be sedated and euthanized.”
The manual does not give specific instructions for killing ostriches by gassing, but says birds can be killed with carbon dioxide gas in a sealed chamber. It says the method is “slower and more stressful” for birds than other methods.
The manual says gunshots should be considered “as a last resort” for euthanasia, while breaking a bird’s neck is also appropriate in some situations, and is listed among methods “when dealing with larger birds such as emus and ostriches.”
However, it notes: “Euthanizing large birds, using cervical dislocation, is physically demanding and must only be undertaken by personnel who have sufficient training and who are physically strong enough to complete the task swiftly.”
If the Supreme Court of Canada decides on Thursday not to hear the appeal by Universal Ostrich Farms, a stay on the cull would be lifted and there would be no legal impediment to the killing of hundreds of birds.
If leave to appeal is granted, a final decision on the fate of the flock would come after a hearing.
The full document cannot be viewed among the federal government’s access-to-information releases without prior request, although details that match it can be seen on a government site.
The Investigative Journalism Foundation routinely requests and uploads to a database the records released under the access-to-information system.
However, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency did not immediately respond to a request to authenticate the document.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025.
The Canadian Press
