The ostrich saga was for the birds

opinion

Ostriches are corralled inside of a cull enclosure near the Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C. on Thursday.

Give the Canadian Food Inspection Agency credit: The long-delayed ostrich cull was remarkably efficient.

The 300 or so big birds were corralled into a tight space, where marksmen methodically picked them off one at a time, an approach the CFIA called the “ most appropriate and humane option.” ( Alternatives considered and rejected were individual lethal injections, or gathering them all in a confined space and administering lethal gas, as is normally done when poultry are culled due to bird flu.)

The “depopulation” operation, which began shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada rejected an appeal of the cull order by the farm’s owners, was hidden from public