By The Canadian Press

Dr. Oz says B.C. ostriches may have valuable avian flu secrets and should be saved

Aug 25, 2025 | 1:19 PM

Celebrity doctor-turned-U.S. health official Mehmet Oz says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s order to cull a herd of ostriches in B.C. over bird flu concerns would amount to a “slaughter” based on rules made in a “bygone era.”

Dr. Oz appeared by video at a news conference Monday with New York radio host and billionaire John Catsimatidis and Katie Pasitney, whose mother is co-owner of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C.

Oz says culling the birds would be a mistake because they appear to have survived “potentially devastating” avian flu infections and they represent an “incredible opportunity” for scientific research.

Oz says the discovery of penicillin came about when a scientist left bacterial cultures in a window sill and went on vacation and came back to find that a fungus had killed the bacteria.

He says Dr. Alexander Fleming studied the fungus and later discovered the life-saving antibiotic instead of “throwing everything away.”

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Oz told Catsimatidis on his New York radio show Sunday that the herd of about 400 ostriches should instead be saved and sent to America so scientists can learn potential “secrets” that have helped the birds survive an outbreak of the disease.

The former TV personality and surgeon, who is now the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said on the show that he had been in touch with Universal Ostrich Farms since a Federal Court Of Appeal ruling last week that upheld a cull ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Oz has previously offered to house the birds at his Florida ranch and he told Catsimatidis on Sunday that the offer still stands, if Prime Minister Mark Carney will allow it.

He said studying the birds could give insights that would help fight a potential future avian flu pandemic among humans.

The lawyer for the farm in Edgewood in the B.C. Interior said last week that the farm’s owners would seek a stay of the cull order that was first issued in December and he was hoping to appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Umar Sheikh said Monday that he was in the process of drafting an application to have the case heard, and hoped the government would pause the cull until the application was either accepted or dismissed.

He said the court only accepted a small percentage of cases that met “an extremely high threshold.”

“The first difficult test is to see if the Supreme Court will even hear it, and they may not, but it’s certainly something we’re going to attempt,” he said.

A total of 69 birds died at the farm in December and January, and while the farmers say the flock is now healthy, the CFIA has maintained that the cull is necessary because exposed flocks create an opportunity for the virus to mutate.

Oz said the birds are past the infection and “they have secrets in them that we can learn from, and it makes perfect sense for America and Canada to co-operate on this.”

He told Catsimatidis that he had spoken to other U.S. health officials including Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, about his plan.

“We are all excited about learning enough about what’s going on that we might be able to transfer that knowledge back to Canada and the rest of the planet,” he said.

Pasitney has urged supporters to converge on the B.C. farm to protect the ostriches.

The CFIA said Monday it would provide a written response to questions about Oz’s proposal.

The agency last week referred questions about the ruling and the cull to an online statement that said it does not release details about operations at individual farms “to help protect the privacy of producers.” It said “operational plans and dates” would not be shared with the public in advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press