The operators of an ostrich farm in southeastern British Columbia say United States health official and former television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz has offered to save the birds from an impending cull by relocating them to his ranch in Florida.
But Katie Pasitney, whose parents own the farm, said they aren’t interested in moving the flock, although they’re grateful for the support.
Oz is the administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and is the second health official in the administration of President Donald Trump to try to prevent the cull, after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr intervened last week.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered the cull last year after an avian flu outbreak at the farm, and a judge tossed out a challenge this month that sought to stop the order.
Pasitney said she spoke with Oz on Monday, confirming a report in the New York Post quoting him as saying he offered to relocate the nearly 400 ostriches to his ranch.
“It’s not like we’re looking at transporting our ostriches anywhere, but I think what the message is (about) the growing support across the States,” she said.
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“Even people like Dr. Oz want to be involved and (want to) see these animals live — even offering his 900 acre ranch in Florida.”
She said New York billionaire businessman and radio host John Catsimatidis had connected her with both Oz and Kennedy.
“He’s well connected and he’s very passionate about this cause,” Pasitney said.
Kennedy wrote a public letter to CFIA president Paul MacKinnon last week, saying the birds should be spared as there was “significant value” in studying their immune response to avian flu.
But the agency said Monday in response to a question about Kennedy’s letter that the “humane depopulation” of the flock would proceed. It said dates and plans will not be shared publicly, citing privacy protections for producers.
Catsimatidis issued his own press release on Tuesday calling on MacKinnon to stop the planned cull.
“We’re calling for a temporary halt and an independent review. Let the U.S. FDA and veterinary scientists evaluate these birds—don’t destroy them before humane alternatives are considered,” he said in the release.
“Dr. Oz is standing by to assist. We’re not asking for miracles, just common sense and compassion.”
Protesters have also gathered at the farm in an attempt to prevent the cull and Universal Ostrich Farm filed an appeal seeking a “stay of the execution and enforcement” of the culling order in Vancouver Monday.
The appeal claims the Federal Court “made multiple reversible errors” when it upheld the agency’s decision to cull the ostrich herd earlier this month.
The notice of appeal says the Federal Court’s decision “took an unduly narrow” view of the agency’s mandate under the Health of Animals Act, wrongly concluded that expert reports weren’t needed, didn’t fully consider the consequences of the cull decision, and didn’t properly determine if the agency’s denial of further testing of the animals was reasonable.
It also claims the farm’s lawyers in the Federal Court judicial review proceedings provided “ineffective assistance” that “amounted to incompetence, and resulted in a miscarriage of justice.”
It says “prior counsel had a financial stake in the destruction of the appellant’s ostriches, resulting in a blatant conflict of interest.”
Lee Turner, one of the farm’s former lawyers, said Monday he “certainly did not” have a conflict of interest, and his co-counsel Michael Carter did a “a remarkable job with the short window of time that he had.”
