How a BC Ostrich Farm Sparked a Far-Right Crusade…

How a BC Ostrich Farm Sparked a Far-Right Crusade | The Tyee

Convoy supporters and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have rallied around the farm, which is facing a cull of its 400-strong flock.

The Tyee

A B.C. ostrich farm fighting an order to kill its 400 birds has become a flashpoint for the far right and people skeptical of both mainstream science and the regulatory powers of governments.

The cull at Universal Ostrich in Edgewood, about 100 kilometres southeast of Vernon, was ordered to prevent the spread of avian flu after birds were infected.

A volunteer researcher with a grassroots group called Unmask the Right says he’s concerned about the involvement of high-profile convoy protesters and people who have threatened violence. Even U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has attacked the cull.

The rhetoric has intensified in the wake of a Federal Court ruling that allows the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA, to proceed with the animal cull to prevent the spread of avian flu.
The researcher sent The Tyee a Facebook post by James Sowery, an Alberta man convicted of assault with a weapon related to his actions at the Coutts border protest in 2022, when he drove his truck at an RCMP officer.

In response to Sowery’s AI-generated picture of an army-helmeted ostrich with the tag line “Save our ostriches,” B.C. commenters have called a federal judge “evil” for ruling Tuesday that the CFIA’s cull of the ostrich flock could go ahead. One called for “the gallows” to be brought back so people could watch the government officials who made the decision “draw their last breaths.”

Several commenters envisioned themselves dying to defend the farm, while others referred to the television show Yellowstone and a plot line involving an isolated canyon outside of government jurisdiction where characters on the show kill enemies or dispose of bodies.

“The key organizers have repeatedly called for their supporters to keep things peaceful, but the online talk among a significant number of those supporters has been anything but,” said the researcher, whom The Tyee is quoting anonymously because he fears harassment or violence.