Judge grants temporary reprieve to hundreds of B.C. ostriches facing avian flu cull [Video]

A federal judge has granted a temporary reprieve to about 400 ostriches that were facing a deadline on Saturday for them to be killed at a British Columbia farm hit by an outbreak of avian flu.

Justice Michael Battista ruled Friday to stay the cull order imposed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency while the farm seeks a judicial review of the case.

Battista said in a written decision that going ahead with Saturday’s order before the matter could be further examined “would expose the applicant to irreparable harm.”

A lawyer for Universal Ostrich Farms Inc. had argued in a Friday hearing in Toronto Federal Court that the ostriches should be exempt from the order because their genetics are the subject of an antibody research study, making them rare and valuable.

Michael Carter said his clients — farm co-owners Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski — had “happy tears” when they …