Colby Cosh: Why the courts aren't likely to save the B.C. ostriches

Have you ever eaten ostrich? They’re delicious: the meat’s dark red and tender — you wouldn’t even know you were eating a bird. They make delightful jerky. I mention this in the face of the bizarre hubbub that has emerged at Universal Ostrich Farms in southeast B.C., which became a scene of civil disobedience and arson this week. On Dec. 31 of last year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued an order for the killing of the facility’s ostriches, which had become infected with deadly H5N1 avian flu, probably from wild ducks which came and went on the property.

The outbreak, then still ongoing, ended up killing about 70 of the facility’s 450 or so birds. But the owners of the herd say the last sick bird died Jan. 15, while they were still casting about for potential exempt