Ostriches Executed for No Good Reason

The children are watching

By JGM

On Friday, “professional marksmen” in Canada gunned down almost 400 ostriches. Birds that were clearly disease free; just more victims of the Canadian government’s totalitarian overreach. Deja vu- “the truckers rally.”

As most of you know, Robert and I have a soft spot for ratites, which is the family of flightless birds that lack a sternal keel (as did dinosaurs) that ostriches belong to. In fact, our pet emu is another member of that ancient lineage of birds. There are only five groups of ratites left in the world (ostriches, emus, kiwis, cassowaries, and Rheas). They have a special place in the animal kingdom. Ratites may be the closest living relatives to the dinosaurs and truly are fascinating.

The ancestors of modern ratites originated in the Northern Hemisphere (Laurasia) during the late Early Cretaceous, approximately 105-115 million years ago.

The oldest undisputed fossils of modern forms, such as ostriches, are from the Miocene of Africa and are about 20 million years old. These birds should be cherished, they are the living heritage of the ancient past.

In truth, Ostriches are sweet, goofy birds- who are times may be a bit hormonal, but they are beloved by those who choose to be their keepers in captivity, as are emus.

Our emu is a cherished member of our family. I feel honored to be her caretaker.

Gizmo, our emu in the snow - last winter.

Gizmo, our emu is a character She may not have two brain cells to rub together, but that doesn’t stop her from being curious and in her own way, even kind. Her best friend is our goose, and they are inseparable. We also have a fair number of peafowl (peacocks, pea-ladies, and pea-babies), eight chickens-all hens, and four quite elderly guinea fowl.

Robert and I have been working with birds almost all of our lives, and this is a shared passion. Robert got his first young parrot on his fourteenth birthday, and Chiquita the yellow fronted amazon was a beloved member of our family until she died when we were in our mid-fifties. So she lived to about forty-years of age.

As an undergrad, I studied avian sciences and ended up working on various research projects at UC Davis with their small colony of parrots. Then, while Robert was in Medical school at Northwestern in the 1980s, I worked as a zoo keeper in the bird house at the Brookfield zoo.

So, I empathize with the owners of these ostriches, to put it mildly. I couldn’t imagine government officials setting up temporary blockades made of hay (because hay bales will absorb excess gunfire) to round up all of my birds on my farm, keeping them penned up like that for who knows how long - without shelter, and then literally gunning them down in the middle of the night, while I had to listen. This is unspeakably cruel.

That gunfire rang in the ears of the owners and the few hearty reporters camped out off the property. Of course, due to the huge “bio threat” hazard (sarcasm) posed by the birds, government officials would not allow anyone on the property to view the massacres.

In the after photo above, the temporary hunting blinds where the wholesale executions were conducted can be seen. The whole debacle is sickening, creepy, and beyond heartless. These birds were not a threat to anyone or anything.

Government officials from the USA offered to take in the ostriches, but the offer was refused by the Canadian government. Dr. Oz even offered his ranch in Florida to house the birds - again, the kind offer was refused.

Note that the birds' bodies are left out in the open. In an actual biothreat scenario, the carcasses would have been disposed of immediately and not just covered with loose tarps that look like they were purchased from Home Depot. The bodies of these huge birds were then left to rot in the morning sun the next day. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that this is not how an infectious disease threat is handled, but we all know there is no infectious disease threat there. This is pure security theater.

X journalists have now posted photos and careful eyes viewing these photos note that there are vultures sitting on the carcasses.

Peanut and Fred were victims of this same type of politicized authoritarian security theater overreach.

For those who want to understand why the Canadian response is so incredibly moronic, Bryon Bridle has written an excellent essay on the science linked below.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Bloodlust: Worshipping Policies While Ignoring Science

The official statement from the Canadian government alerts reporters that the “airspace” above the facilities is still restricted airspace . That people will be arrested for trying to film this catastrophe. The message is clear, the Canadian government controls the Canadian people, their property, their ability speak freely, to video, and even the ability to own pets and livestock.

But the aftermath of these policies will be that every small farm owner in Canada and the USA has now been notified; If you have sick animals, particularly birds, the message is do not call your local veterinarian, do not seek medical treatment, as the vet will be required to report Avian influenza cases to the state governments. In the United States, that would be to the state health authorities. That would mean almost certain death for the entire flock. For the small farmer or owner of a backyard flock, there is no financial compensation when this happens.

For a good summary on what is happening with commercial flocks please read:

In poultry and livestock facebook groups, some people are speaking the quiet bit out loud now: do not seek help from professionals when your birds get an infectious disease. That is, unless you want all of your birds “culled” , and your farm quarantined.

Instead people with chickens who are sick, are letting the infectious disease runs its course, use using biosecurity to stop the spread, then breeding the strong birds to create a more healthy next generation. This is being done without publicity, without the “hindrance” of health authorities, without hatchery involvement, but in backyard flocks everywhere.

Joel Salatin of Polyface farm, has created a personal breed of chicken that is extremely long lived, as he only keeps the offspring from his longest lived, most prolific hens. Creating a healthy breed just takes a bit of care and thought for future generations.

All the while, billions of wild birds are or have been infected with “highly pathogenic avian flu”. All of us are being exposed to bird droppings, feathers, etc and seem little harmed by this. In fact, our immune system is made stronger by such exposures. With new strains evolving rapidly, as has always been the case, wild birds have both built immunity, and as birds breed rapidly, are even evolutionarily less susceptible to severe disease.

In chickens, there are heritage breeds that are less affected by avian influenza and frankly, it only takes a few generations of breeding to produce strains that are even more resistant. Frankly, disease resistant poultry already exist in barnyards everywhere.

Survival of the fittest

A flock is only as strong as its weakest bird. So, people should breed for strong, immunologically healthy birds. Which in fact is de facto happening in backyard flocks throughout the USA and Canada

There Any Alternatives to Vaccinating or Mass Culling Commercial Poultry Flocks?

How about we fund to test which of the heritage breeds are most resistant to H5N1, and then cross these resistant breeds into the commercial poultry lines?

Instead of this common sense approach, there is a good chance that USDA bureaucrats in their zeal and short-sighted stupidity are going to march in, indiscriminately cull, and decimate specialty hatcheries and the treasure trove of genetic information that they have been preserving for generations.

Perhaps it is time to consider other options such as breeding H5N1 resistant poultry strains?

Yes, there actually already are disease-resistant poultry strains. Research has shown that certain chicken breeds possess genetic traits that make them more resilient to various diseases. This resistance is a polygenic trait, involving multiple genes that confer protection against pathogens.

Notable Disease-Resistant Breeds

• Fayoumi Chickens

• Nicobari Chickens

• Indigenous chickens

Many American heritage flocks that have gone through many generations of being exposed to avian influenza strains are very disease resistant.

Using a rooster from a disease resistant breed on backyard birds can quickly ramp up disease resistance.

A good place to buy local birds are the small poultry and livestock auctions, as well as facebook groups. Just ask the breeder - about disease resistance in their flock.

Importance of Disease-Resistant Strains

Breeding disease-resistant chicken strains is crucial for:

1. Tackling pathogens more effectively

2. Increasing understanding of host genetics in fighting communicable diseases

3. Reducing the need for antibiotics and other prophylactic measures

4. Enhancing the economic viability of poultry farming, especially in low and middle-income countries

By focusing on the disease-resistant strains, the poultry owner can potentially improve overall flock health, reduce economic losses, and enhance food safety.

It starts with us, the ten percent of Americans who keep backyard chickens. The thirty million people who eat those eggs daily.

The government is not here to help, they are here to protect commercial interests.

They have no interest in breeding disease resistant backyard poultry breeds. So, be smart and buy then breed healthy, strong birds. Breed for a strong flock and fight avian infectious diseases the smart way, which happens to be the traditional way of farmers worldwide.

And if, like me, you have specialty birds, don’t register your flock with the government unless forced to, find trustworthy professionals to work with and trust yourself to do right be the animals you care for.

They just got away with murder of this flock of ostriches for no good reason, and they will do it again in a heartbeat. So particularly in Canada, keep a low profile- if they can kill the ostriches, the pet squirrels and raccoons, and backyard flocks everywhere, what will stop them from killing your animals?

For information on keeping backyard chickens, we wrote a handy guide a while back:

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