As the Supreme Court of Canada considers whether to hear the case of a B.C. farm that's fighting to save its ostriches from a CFIA cull, politicians in Ottawa appear to be choosing their words on the matter very carefully.
Aren’t these birds safe now, since they have recovered from the flu? I mean, we don’t quarantine people permanently after they recover from the flu because they’re not infectious anymore. Insisting they still be culled at this point serves only to set an example that no one should try to skirt health laws simply by delaying (which may have some merit, but seems cruel to me). Still. I don’t dispute that they should have been culled originally but the infectious window’s “ship has sailed”, has it not? So it seems a bit pointless to do now unless they actually still present a threat. If the farm owners delayed the culling by impeding it then penalize them, certainly with fines or jail time. But the animals don’t need to suffer at this point do they?
Avian flu doesn’t have 100% mortality, birds survive it all the time these ostriches aren’t that special medically or scientifically, just lucky.
We don’t quarantine people forever because they are people, not animals.
There is also president to set, because if they get an exception every farm down the road will ignore avian flu outbreaks because it might mean 40% of their flock can survive instead of all of the flock being killed and then tie up the courts forever fighting dozens of farms in court instead of just one.
Aren’t these birds safe now, since they have recovered from the flu? I mean, we don’t quarantine people permanently after they recover from the flu because they’re not infectious anymore. Insisting they still be culled at this point serves only to set an example that no one should try to skirt health laws simply by delaying (which may have some merit, but seems cruel to me). Still. I don’t dispute that they should have been culled originally but the infectious window’s “ship has sailed”, has it not? So it seems a bit pointless to do now unless they actually still present a threat. If the farm owners delayed the culling by impeding it then penalize them, certainly with fines or jail time. But the animals don’t need to suffer at this point do they?
They can still get sick or be carriers and spread it to the native birds. The farmers are taking no precautions.
Avian flu doesn’t have 100% mortality, birds survive it all the time these ostriches aren’t that special medically or scientifically, just lucky.
We don’t quarantine people forever because they are people, not animals.
There is also president to set, because if they get an exception every farm down the road will ignore avian flu outbreaks because it might mean 40% of their flock can survive instead of all of the flock being killed and then tie up the courts forever fighting dozens of farms in court instead of just one.