Hot on the heels of the H5N1 influenza in ostriches debacle in BC comes a reported outbreak of H5N1 influenza at an animal sanctuary in the same province. The sanctuary (Critteraid Animal Sanctuary) is not one I’ve ever heard of before, but based on their website, it looks like a good operation, and their response to this situation elevates them further in my mind. Unfortunately, even the best run facilities can be at risk from H5N1 influenza.

The sanctuary said on Facebook that one of their roosters got sick on Saturday October 25 and died; they sent the body for diagnostic testing (which is great). By Monday October 27, three more chickens had died; they were sent for testing too.  Ultimately testing identified H5N1 influenza as the cause. Overall, 8 of their 10 chickens died, and the other 2 were sick and had to be euthanized (probably both because of the severity of disease and because of the H5N1 flu test result on the other chickens, which would trigger a cull order).

The CFIA confirmed the test result and the farm closed. Five ducks had to be euthanized too. It’s not clear if they were sick (it doesn’t sound like they were sick, at least not yet) but because they’re poultry and there was potential exposure to the virus, they would be included in the cull order. It’s heartbreaking, since these were truly pet ducks that had likely been at the sanctuary for a long time. However, the sanctuary didn’t try to hide the birds or argue with the authorities – they accepted the unfortunate but necessary response to control this high consequence disease. They worked with CFIA and euthanized the birds themselves (versus having CFIA do it), saying “we made the choice that to ensure our policies of compassion were upheld and they deserve that dignity, that we did it ourselves.”

The farm has been working with CFIA and BC Interior Health, and they provided information about human contacts for contact tracing. Twelve people were potentially exposed to the infected birds.  They are all healthy and presumably are being monitored by public health for a couple of weeks to make they don’t develop any signs of influenza.

As per standard policy, the facility is quarantined and is undergoing decontamination to further contain the virus. The other animals on the farm consist of pigs, goats, cows, dogs and cats, which are not subject to culling, as they are not poultry. They will presumably be closely monitored. Ideally we’d test any that had very close contact with the infected birds or their environment, but that would be primarily to gain more knowledge about the inter-species transmission risks, rather than as a control measure on the farm. Testing the other animals is not required, but it would be an opportunity to learn more.

Even though the sanctuary is in the middle of this highly stressful and draining situation, they’re thinking ahead, as they indicate “now more than ever we feel the need to educate ourselves further to ensure we have a safe environment for birds in the future.”

This is the antithesis of the Universal Ostrich Farm.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, what should have been a relatively small local story has blown up, with anti-vax / anti-CFIA / anti-public health activists and influencers making up stories about the CFIA “coming for all the animals” (and more broadly, anyone’s pets). I assume they were hoping to move the convoy to another location to continue to party, protest and ask for money.

The situation also seems to have (again, not surprisingly) led to threats against the facility. On Facebook, they outlined the time frame and their response (see below). As part of that, they address a lot of things that they shouldn’t have to, including that they have nothing to do with a couple of petitions that are just spreading fear, misinformation and mistrust. That’s the last thing with which they should have to deal right now. Clearly the conspiracy fringe is in full motion:

I don’t know why the sanctuary is being threatened. It could be because they’re not being vociferous against CFIA, and thereby making it hard for that crowd to leverage the incident for attention and fundraising.

Regardless, the situation and the facility’s response are worth noting. From all I’ve seen, this is a great example of what should be done. The farm has been transparent, fair and taken responsibility for what needs to be done. It’s not their fault they got H5N1 flu in their birds. Particularly with birds that live outside, a big component of it is just bad luck. How they responded is key, and that seems to be going well.

Rather than sending more donations to grifters, dodgy “reporters” and everything else we saw with the ostrich debacle, donating to this sanctuary that is navigating a very tough situation would be great. I just did.