Karen Espersen, right, the co-owner of Universal Ostrich Farms, speaks with supporters with her daughter, Katie Pasitney, at the farm in Edgewood, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Hemens

By The Canadian Press

No decision on B.C. ostrich case until at least Oct. 30, as cull opponent is arrested

Oct 17, 2025 | 3:38 PM

EDGEWOOD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — The Supreme Court of Canada likely won’t decide until at least Oct. 30 whether to hear a last-ditch appeal against a planned cull of ostriches at a British Columbia farm, where an opponent of the cull was arrested on Friday.

Video shared on Facebook showed social media presenter Jim Kerr being handcuffed and led away by two RCMP officers.

RCMP said a man was arrested at the farm in Edgewood, B.C., which remains under a search warrant by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Mounties said the man was arrested on Friday under the Health of Animals Act for obstructing CFIA agents from performing their duties after he allegedly breached the perimeter of the farm’s property.

The man was later released on conditions not to attend the property, police said.

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Kerr, who has been at the farm since April and has tens of thousands of social media followers, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Farm spokeswoman Katie Pasitney said in a Facebook post that Kerr was arrested after he crossed a quarantine line at the farm, where the owners have been waiting for a court ruling on the fate of their hundreds of birds that the CFIA says must be slaughtered.

The court typically announces its decisions whether to grant leave for appeal on Thursdays, and releases a list of cases up for consideration before that.

But the list for Oct. 23 that was released on Friday did not include the case of Universal Ostrich Farms, meaning a decision on whether to even hear the case likely won’t come before Oct. 30, with any potential ruling after that.

The owners of the farm are fighting the planned cull that was ordered last December by the CFIA after the flock was hit by an outbreak of avian flu, which the agency says went on to kill 69 birds.

Tests were conducted on two of the dead birds and came back positive for H5N1 flu, but the farm’s owners have been pushing for the surviving birds to be tested.

The farmers say the remaining ostriches show no signs of illness and should not be killed, while the CFIA says ostriches that appear healthy can still spread the disease, including new mutations of the virus.

The Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of the cull order and directed that the CFIA take custody of the birds until it decides whether to hear the case by the farm’s owners, who have lost a series of lower court decisions.

If the court decides not to hear the case and lifts the stay, it means the cull will be allowed to proceed, but if leave to appeal is granted, then a final decision on the fate of the flock would come later after the high court hears the case.

The arrest of Kerr is not the first at the farm, where opponents of the cull have gathered for months.

The RCMP previously said that on Sept. 23, two people were arrested for obstructing CFIA agents before being released, while officers also received complaints from businesses about “threats, intimidation and harassment due to the dispute.”

Pasitney, whose mother Karen Espersen is a co-owner of the farm, said Friday that the quarantine line should be respected.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2025.

The Canadian Press