An expert on the Supreme Court of Canada says a British Columbia ostrich farm faces an uphill battle "with very low odds" to get a last-ditch hearing to stop the cull of about 400 birds.

Emmett Macfarlane, a political-science professor at the University of Waterloo who has written a book on Canada's highest court, said Monday that the court focuses on cases where there is a question that needs to be clarified about the law, not to re-litigate possible errors in individual situations.

Macfarlane said that in the case of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., multiple lower courts have decided not to stop the cull, suggesting there isn't much legal "controversy" that would require the Supreme Court of Canada to step in.

The farm has been fighting for months to try to stop an order by

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