Union president raises safety concerns for its CFIA members tasked with B.C. ostrich cull [Video]

The union representing Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) workers tasked with carrying out a cull at a B.C. ostrich farm says there are fears over the workers’ safety as emotions run high.

Over 400 birds at Universal Ostrich farm in Edgewood, B.C., face the prospect of a cull due to an avian flu detection in December.

The CFIA, which is handling Canada’s response to an ongoing avian flu outbreak, won a court case earlier this month and says the cull will go ahead due to concerns over the spread and mutation of the virus.

But a vocal contingent of supporters — including U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — has spoken out against the cull, arguing the flightless birds, many decades old, pose little threat of spreading avian flu and the herd should be preserved for scientific study.

WATCH | Supporters protest CFIA cull order: The remote community of Edgewood, B.C., is now ground zero for a fight to save 400 ostriches. Protesters have descended on Universal …