Law enforcement has descended on Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, BC ahead of the government-ordered cull of their flock.Nearly 400 birds have been sentenced to death by Ottawa following a months-long legal battle between the farm and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.The CFIA has ordered the farm owners to leave so that someone from the federal organization can come in and take care of the birds before the cull, which appears not to be happening just yet.The owners have refused, vowing to remain on the property to take care of their animals, citing a letter from the CFIA that permitted them to stay..According to Rebel News' Drea Humphrey, officers produced a warrant from the CFIA under the Health of Animals Act that after claiming they will not cull the birds just yet. Volunteer and mediator Jeff Gaudry asked to receive the warrant on the farm's behalf, but police refused to hand it over, demanding that it go directly to Katie Pasitney, spokeswoman for the farm and daughter of co-owner Karen Espersen.Gaudry explained that the warrant applies to portions of the property where the animals are, and that the section supporters are protesting in will remain free.The family is expected to speak out on the matter shortly..Footage from the scene posted to Facebook by Thundra Amo Kerr Monday morning showed a number of RCMP officers from various units walking onto the farm as a crowd of the farm's supporters watched on..Earlier Monday morning, a man wearing all black was caught on video running up the road with a jerry can as a female neighbour yelled at him. It was not clear whether the can was full, or what his intentions were..Pasitney addressed the incident in a Facebook video."We've had an Edgewood hate group that's been pretty pretty mean," she explained. "There's been a staged incident that they tried to pin on our farm and make it look like we did it when I was saying we do not condone violence."Pasitney shamed the perpetrators, and reminded everyone that she and her family are "humble and hard-working farmers that are trying to do the right thing.".A maintenance worker named Tim was arrested after claiming to be the man in black, but according to Humphrey, the farmers and supporters "don't believe it was him and suggest he may have taken the fall for someone else."
