The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Federal Court of Appeal regarding Universal Ostrich Farms Inc. vs. Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
This means there is no longer any legal impediment to the cull of the ostriches.
The court made the announcement on its website without explanation, which is typical.
So these birds, that have clearly been exposed to and survived avian flu, which therefore have antibodies to said avian flu, are now being destroyed instead of studied for potential prevention measures? This seems absurd and wasteful. I agree that they should have been treated as study cases to help us find ways to vaccinate or otherwise alleviate avian flu instead of…as the cartoons so aptly showed ostriches doing…burying our heads.
I understand why the decision was made. It just feels absurdly shortsighted.
Don’t forget there are different strains of the avian flu, so surviving one strain doesn’t guarantee the bird would survive another.
Yes, this is true, but studying any antibodies at all is better than destroying them.