PAYBACK: No $10K fine for owners of slain ostriches

Universal Ostrich Farms has won a victory in its fight against the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

On Friday, February 6, Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal member Patricia Farnese ruled that the CFIA's violation notice and $10,000 fine issued against Universal Ostrich Farms must be set aside.

'Our farm is leading a movement.'

The ruling was based solely on procedural grounds. Farnese found that the CFIA failed to personally deliver the quarantine notice to the farm, instead sending it by email on Dec. 31, 2024, a day after verbally informing the owners of the quarantine.

“The agency’s failure to personally deliver the quarantine notice as mandated by subsection 91.4 of the HA Regulations is fatal to its case,” Farnese wrote.

Ruefully noting that the CFIA refused to test the ostriches for avian influenza, farm spokeswoman Katie Pasitney told Align: “The true virus here was the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. ... They were the virus."

Blood-soaked hay

The dispute — which attracted global media attention and significant support for the farm from figures such as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz — began in September 2025, when the CFIA imposed a quarantine on UOF after alleging the presence of H5N1 avian influenza. The CFIA maintained that the farm posed a public health risk, despite refusing to test the animals for the virus.

The agency subsequently occupied the property for nearly seven weeks and issued an order to destroy the flock. The order was carried out overnight late on November 6 and into the early hours of November 7, resulting in the deaths of more than 300 ostriches.

Afterward, the agency left the farm in disarray, with hay bales contaminated with the blood of dead ostriches strewn across the property. Pasitney and her mother say they have been unable to clean up the mess because the property remains under quarantine, even as the federal government continues to insist that the birds carried H5N1 avian influenza.

RELATED: Aftermath of a slaughter: Universal Ostrich Farms vows to hold Canada accountable

Katie Pasitney

'Off guard'

Pasitney said Monday that she and her mother, Karen Espersen, who owns the farm, were caught "off guard” by the tribunal’s decision — one they did not believe would go in their favor and did not expect to arrive until much later in the year.

"We read [the email from the tribunal] together," said Pasitney, "and we both started crying, because it was just nice to hear from somebody on the federal level that they validated our concerns."

Beyond nullifying the $10,000 fine, the decision raises broader legal implications. Does it undermine the legality of the CFIA’s entire operation against the farm — the initial invasion last September, the nearly seven-week occupation, and, most importantly, the killing of more than 300 ostriches?

"You know, those safeguards [against illegal quarantine] are put in place by Parliament for a very important reason, because quarantines carry such an excessive consequence for people with their livelihoods and their animals and their properties,” said Pasitney.

Leading a movement

So why did the tribunal rule in favor of UOF?

It assessed the CFIA’s negligence in its conduct at the farm, specifically finding that the quarantine notice relied upon by the agency was not properly served in accordance with federal law.

Pasitney shared the decision to her Facebook page on Monday, along with a statement from the farm. In the decision, the tribunal cited subsection 91.4(1) of the Health of Animals Regulations, which requires quarantine notices to be personally delivered — meaning physically handed to the affected party. The tribunal ruled that the CFIA failed to meet this requirement by relying on email.

As a result, the notice of violation and the accompanying $10,000 penalty were set aside.

The implications may extend beyond one farm, noted Pasitney. "How many other farmers were improperly served ... and that resulted in unlawful enforcement?"

Pasitney said the decision has strengthened her resolve to keep pushing for accountability from the Canadian government — a crusade she said is now larger than Universal Ostrich Farms.

"Our farm is leading a movement. I've been blessed to be able to be the voice," she said.

"And so I will continue to fight for my family and for everybody else out there."