A New York billionaire who is an avid supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump says he is helping fund the legal battle by a British Columbia ostrich farm against an order to cull their flock of about 400 birds after an avian flu outbreak.

John Catsimatidis said he and a friend had contributed about US$35,000 to the legal fight by Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood in B.C.'s Interior, to stop the cull ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The 76-year-old whose $4.5 billion dollar net worth includes an oil refinery and a chain of New York grocery stores, also took credit in an interview Tuesday for putting the ostrich farm in the international spotlight, by raising it with Trump administration officials.

He said he had also written to Prime Minister Mark Carney about the case,

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