Premiers Danielle Smith and Doug Ford have come out in support of the BC ostrich flock at risk of being slaughtered by the federal government.Nearly 400 birds at Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, BC may be culled due to an avian flu outbreak months ago from which the flock has recovered.."I have asked my agriculture minister to look into it to see if we had a similar situation in Alberta, what would we be able to do differently," Smith said during a press conference at the Council of the Federation meeting in Huntsville, Ontario, "and one of the things I think is worth looking at is when avian flu went through that herd, it did kill 20% of them, but it didn't kill 80% of them — so maybe there is something to learn from whether there's an immunity or some kind of vaccine that can be developed as a result of having that flock survive."She went on to suggest that perhaps it was time to explore different ways of doing animal husbandry and animal safety."I'm open minded to see if there's any persuasion on that," Smith said, referring to the United States government's apparent desire to partner with BC. "I'd be supportive of that, because you can see that this case has really taken on a lot of public sentiment behind it, and if we can find a better way that doing mass culls in any situation like this, I think it's probably worth it.".At the forefront of the American push to save the ostriches are Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Oz, and billionaire John Catsimatidis. The trio have sought a "diplomatic meeting with Canadian officials" about the fate of the ostriches. Catsimatidis recently spoke with Smith and Ford, calling on them to get Prime Minister Mark Carney to intervene."I've talked to John many times about these ostriches," Ford said. "I'm an animal lover and I wanna do everything I can to help them. I think he had a plan to bring them down to Florida to a sanctuary down there. Anything John needs, I'm always there to support him."According to the CBC, while the farm appreciated the offer, the owners have opted not to relocate the birds.The fate of the flock is in the hands of the Federal Court of Appeal, where judges last week heard arguments from the farm against culling their beloved birds. Justice Mary Gleason has stated that she and her two fellow judges will hand down their decision soon.
