EDGEWOOD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — With the flock of several hundred ostriches on the British Columbia farm co-owned by her mother shot dead in a cull ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Katie Pasitney said she is focused on creating change for other farmers.

Standing on the highway overlooking the field where the cull took place Thursday night, Pasitney said the CFIA’s so-called stamping-out policy is “broken” as it fails to prevent mounting outbreaks of avian influenza in B.C. and other parts of Canada.

She said the farm near Edgewood in southeastern B.C. is “ground zero for change” in outbreak response, but added her family will “never recover from this.”

“The gunfire all last night was overwhelming,” she said in an interview Friday.

“Our hearts are empty.”

The owners

See Full Page