CFIA official tells of threats and harassment that dogged ostrich cull operation

As Canadian Food Inspection Agency workers prepared for a cull of hundreds of ostriches at a British Columbia farm, they came under a variety of harassment from opponents of the operation, said a senior official with the agency.

They peaked with the “extreme” example of a CFIA worker and their family facing “in-person threats” of “physical violence and sexual assault,” forcing the agency to relocate the couple and their children, the official said.

“There’s been an escalating pattern of threats, both online and in person to CFIA personnel, including those who were present at the farm, but not limited to folks on the farm,” the official told The Canadian Press.

They agreed to an interview on Thursday on conditions of anonymity for security reasons — including that their voice not be broadcast in case it was recognized — in some of the first public remarks by a senior CFIA official since the Nov. 6 cull.

“These kind of threats have been of an intimidating nature, of a harassing nature, of a threatening physical violence nature,” they said.

The official said staff faced a barrage of harassment over the cull at Universal Ostrich Farms in southeastern B.C., which was ordered more than 10 months earlier amid an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu. Marksmen shot and killed 314 ostriches inside a hay-bale enclosure on a night of cold, drenching rain.

The CFIA official said they “don’t think the farm set out to create the environment that unfolded,” referring to the threats and harassment.

However, “notwithstanding perhaps their intentions, whether directly or deliberately or not, they did, I think, give the space for some of this to happen,” the official said.

Katie Pasitney, daughter of one of the farm’s co-owners, Karen Espersen, said any threats or harassment directed at CFIA staff or their families is “completely unacceptable.”

“We condemn violence and intimidation in all forms, without qualification,” she said in an email Thursday.

“At the same time, it is deeply troubling to hear anonymous allegations suggesting that our farm ‘gave space’ for harassment to occur.”

Pasitney said the farm has consistently called for lawful and peaceful engagement and it did not encourage or tolerate threats, harassment or violence toward anyone.

The RCMP has said that in the lead-up to the cull there were “weeks of threats and intimidation towards CFIA agents and contractors,” requiring a police presence at the farm to keep the peace.

While the CFIA official said the threats have calmed down, about two weeks ago the agency’s office and vehicles in Calgary were damaged and vandalized.

The agency has seen feces smeared on office windows, while its email inboxes and phone lines were flooded with messages from those opposing the cull.

“We certainly accept that people can email and write to us if they don’t agree with decisions,” the official said. “There were people who did so respectfully.”

But many were “quite vile” in their language and threats, the official said.

Pasitney said many people spoke out and peacefully protested against the cull. “If any individuals crossed the line into threatening or abusive behaviour, that is not something we support, condone, or control.”

‘NOBODY WANTS TO DO THAT’

The decision to shoot the ostriches was part of the agency’s early planning for the cull, developed through consultation with international experts on ostriches, the official said.

“Let me be clear, we don’t wake up in the morning hoping to be able to go out and kill animals. Nobody wants to do that,” the official said.

But the agency must be able to manage the avian influenza, and do so according to the internationally recognized stamping-out policy for the disease, they said.

“When you think about the number of animals, the size of the animals and the lack of facilities on the property to be able to contain them, and just the realities of how you would humanely cull that number of animals, using marksmen was the best option based on all of the advice and all of the factors that we considered.”

The day after the cull, Pasitney said the cull was “inhumane” and called the stamping-out policy “broken,” describing Universal Ostrich Farms as “ground-zero for change.”

The CFIA official said the policy is aimed at protecting human health, animal health and Canada’s $6.8-billion poultry industry, including $1.75 billion in exports.

“We have reciprocal agreements, whereby it’s expected that Canada will manage disease just as we would expect any countries from whom we import animal products to control disease,” they said.

It didn’t matter that the flock at the ostrich farm wasn’t being raised for human consumption at the time of the cull, they added.

“It’s the fact that H5N1 was not being controlled in that premises, and that has an impact on the whole industry.”

The official said the delays caused by the farm’s legal battle to save its flock were “also creating the environment where infection and reinfection could continue.”

“We don’t take a wait-and-see attitude. Unfortunately, you need to be able to resolve these infectious flocks as quickly as possible,” the official said, noting the courts repeatedly upheld the CFIA’s authority and application of the policy.

Many of the farm’s supporters have questioned why the CFIA refused to test the birds that survived the initial H5N1 outbreak, which killed 69 ostriches.

“Whether they were positive or negative doesn’t change the fact that they serve as … a vehicle for reassortment,” the official said Thursday, referring to changes in a virus that can make it more infectious, more deadly, or spread to different species.

They said the farm did not have facilities to separate its flock from wild birds landing on the property, and even after time has passed, ostriches can become vessels for reinfection and reassortment of the avian flu virus.

The original testing that confirmed the outbreak at Universal Ostrich Farms found the birds were sick with a “particularly virulent” variant of avian flu, they said.

Government figures revealed this week that costs associated with the cull came to more than $6.8 million, including about $1.6 million in CFIA costs, about $1.4 million in legal expenses, and more than $3.8 million in RCMP costs.

“While one wouldn’t wish to spend this amount of money,” the CFIA official said, the agency was protecting the poultry industry along with human and animal health.

The costs, provided by the federal government in response to a question in Parliament from Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee MP Scott Anderson, also included $82,496 for “destruction” and $166,087 for “disposal.”

In her email Thursday, Pasitney said the field where the cull took place is “littered with shell casings” from the cull and “there has been n effort to restore the land” in the aftermath of the CFIA’s operation.

The CFIA official said the agency strives for transparency and clear communication.

But its ability to communicate in relation to its operation at the farm had been compromised because the agency had to protect its staff, amid concerns about threats and harassment, the official said.

The attention the cull at Universal Ostrich Farms garnered was “on another level from anything the CFIA has experienced before.”

“Typically we would put out spokespeople. We pride ourselves in being able to do that, and we felt that, actually, that was a risk,” they said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2026.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press