Convoy and court case underway as B.C. ostrich farm fights order to kill birds due to avian flu infection [Video]

A B.C. ostrich farm ordered to kill off its entire herd of what it says is roughly 400 birds due to an avian flu infection is instead fighting its case in court — and in the court of public opinion.

Universal Ostrich is located on a rural road near Edgewood, in B.C.’s West Kootenay region. Getting there is an approximately 175 kilometre drive from Kelowna along a winding highway, or about 360 kilometres northeast of Vancouver as the crow flies.

And for the past several weeks, it has been the site of a growing set of supporters who view the order to kill the birds, who can live for 30 or even 40 years, as an example of government overreach that fails to account for the specifics of the situation being faced by the farm’s owners, Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski, who have raised some of the birds facing death …