Mastodawn

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/573933/RCMP-confirm-B-C-ostrich-farmers-arrested#573933

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

If you would like to see reliable news reports from the ostrich farm, the BC Interior news source Castanet is updating this article.

Apparently the farm has been cleared of people not from the RCMP or CFIA, including some that have been arrested. The cull is expected to take place today or tomorrow though no timelines have been given.

#culturewar #AntiVax #antiScience #farm #farming #H5N1 #CanPoli #BCPoli #DrOz

RCMP confirm B.C. ostrich farmers arrested - BC News

UPDATE 12:33 p.m. Police have confirmed that the ostrich pen in Edgewood has been cleared and two arrests were made.

@chris the culture war stuff is maybe nonsense, but it's not nonsense on the ground. The Ostriches don't have avian flu; they recovered.

The common-sense takeaway for many people is that under the CFIA's logic, we should just kill all birds because they might get avian flu.

The frustrating thing is that the Feds in charge aren't considering the non-biological effects of their actions.

@chris I live just around the corner from the farm, and many of their supporters live in the Slocan Valley. Making a big deal out of this and insisting on interfering – in place, frankly, that gets *zero* support or attention otherwise – is just making things harder for those of us who live here. It's all so stupid. All of it.

@blaine the fact is *no one* knows if they have avian flu *now*. That's the whole point. That is why they deal with flocks in this way. You can't test the birds reliably. Anyone who owns a flock of birds -- especially people like these who have bred, sold, and processed them -- know that this is how it works. Sometimes, a disease will come along and the best way to deal with it is to cull the flock and start over. It happens literally All the Time.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-ostrich-farm-avian-flu-case-1.7630656

Dave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁Sep 23

@blaine

This apparently was no ordinary avian flu:

“It says the strain was ‘among the most virulent’ tested at Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory and even low doses killed mice within a few days.

But [Cathy Furness with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency] says the CFIA doesn't know how likely it is that the ostriches at the Edgewood, B.C., farm remain infected, or will become infected.”

A cull is pretty extreme but it’s better than crossing our fingers.

@chris

New analysis indicates higher lethality of avian flu at B.C. ostrich farm: CFIA vet | CBC News

An affidavit by Canada's deputy chief veterinarian says the strain of the bird flu virus found at the farm is "among the most virulent" tested at Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory.

CBC

@Sanderde @blaine and that's exactly it. A cull really isn't extreme. It's really one of the very few tools we have. We just don't have the medical knowledge or research to do anything else.

@chris @Sanderde no argument there, I don't disagree with the science (or, more properly, I don't know the science and I trust the scientists).

My point is a cultural one; the CFIA are doing a *terrible* *awful* *horrendous* job at communicating on this issue, in the community and more broadly, and they're leaving themselves open to broad criticism (why not test the birds?). It's a big, visible flock to locals, but only 5 people who live elsewhere in BC have ever seen them.

@blaine @Sanderde totally agree

@chris @Sanderde so absent the communication, it feels like a big faceless government department coming in and making choices for a community that gets *nothing* from the government except when it's to say "no, bad hicks."

I feel it: after the fires, there has been *zero* support from any level of government. We were evacuated for a month, 80% of my property burned, we lost old growth forest in crown land adjacent, I've lost hundreds or thousands of personal hours to cleanup. Zero support.

@chris @Sanderde so yeah, when a government agency shows up out here, a little bit of care to the otherwise ignored rural residents would go a long way. I'd say it's mandatory. The CFIA hasn't done that work, and so whatever other science they're working on is sadly invalidated.

This should be so obvious post-COVID. I mean, avian flu is bad, but thanks to how COVID was handled, we have authoritarian governments doing all sorts of horrendous shit. These things are connected.

@blaine @Sanderde what you say makes absolutely 100% sense. If only everyone around this issue out there was speaking so clearly about it!

@chris @Sanderde ❤️ I feel exceptionally ranty, but glad it's landing with you!! Also, lol, don't get me started about the state of journalism. Not journalists' faults, but ... yeahhhhh. Anyhow. Back to heads-down on my current work (https://newpublic.org/local 😁)

Local Lab | New_ Public

Helping local communities create flourishing digital spaces

New_ Public

@blaine @Sanderde hahhaa. local journalism is simultaneously our eventual saviour, and also the most disappointing part of all news right now. It's very sad what has been allowed to be done to local journalists!

Erin Dalzell (He/Him) 🇨🇦Sep 24

@blaine fyi that site has almost a 2 sec delay until it starts to load content. Likely some blocking JS?

@chris @Sanderde probably worth noting that some of the folks involved in the protests are some of our most "difficult" folks in the valley. Unsurprisingly.

This conflict is going to make it much harder to deal with them and counter their more toxic rhetoric, because it's given them a big largely popular platform, and they feel validated in their resistance to "the government" – they, and virtually everyone else, don't see the difference between the CFIA or the CTA or our MLA or the DFA. 😭

Carolyn Sep 23

@chris "“They are essentially being penalized for surviving."

One might think that if they had the flu and recovered, they would be very useful for research. Culling seems just wrong for many reasons.