Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written a letter to the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency asking that ostriches at a B.C. farm be spared from a planned cull.
Kennedy, the U.S. secretary for health and human services, posted a letter on social media dated Friday and addressed to Paul MacKinnon, saying there would be “significant value” in studying the ostriches’ immune response to avian flu.
The secretary, who says he spoke with MacKinnon on Thursday about the cull, thanked the Canadian agency for what he said was an openness to discussing a collaboration on a long-term study of the roughly 400 birds at Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C.
The letter is co-signed by the heads of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, who Kennedy said also took part in the conversation with MacKinnon.
“It’s our hope that this collaboration will help us understand how to better protect human and animal populations and perhaps lead to the development of new vaccines and therapeutics,” Kennedy said in the social media post.
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“We at HHS are excited about this opportunity for co-operation among our governments in a promising scientific partnership.”
The letter says the situation requires further evaluation.
“We are fully committed to supporting CFIA and Canadian farmers in safeguarding both public health and animal welfare and to further studying this important and unique flock for scientific advancement,” it reads.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Katie Pasitney, whose parents own the farm, thanked Kennedy on social media.
“Thank you for trying to protect innovative science and these animals,” she said in a Facebook post.
“Together, I know that we can create the most magical change out of this most challenging opportunity.”
Earlier Friday, RCMP said they were investigating the death of an ostrich at the farm, where protesters have gathered to prevent a cull of the birds ordered by federal authorities.
Pasitney posted a video on social media in the morning, saying a large drone had flown over the property between 1 and 2 a.m., and one of their “biggest, beautiful roosters” was shot dead.
Pasitney said in a later post that Mounties had been collecting statements from witnesses, and that there was a “clear entry wound and exit wound” through the bird that died.
The RCMP have confirmed an ostrich died and they are investigating, but they have not provided details about the circumstances.
Mounties previously said they were aware of “increased tensions” and protest activity at the farm after the Federal Court upheld a cull order by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency earlier this month.
The agency wants the flock culled because of an outbreak of avian flu that killed dozens of the birds in December and January.
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