TORONTO — In the end, nothing could save hundreds of ostriches on a farm in British Columbia from execution: not the prayers of online supporters, not the Supreme Court of Canada, not the interventions of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The flock’s destiny was sealed Thursday, after Canada’s highest court said it would not hear an appeal by the owners of Universal Ostrich Farms, in Edgewood, British Columbia. The owners wanted the court to cancel an order by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to cull the ostriches because in December they had come into contact with avian flu, and some in the flock died of it.

The cull started Thursday night, and by Friday, nearly a year after avian flu had hit the flock, all of the surviving birds were shot and killed. The culling policy is the

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