Emotions are running high at Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C., after claims someone shot and killed one of the birds on Thursday night.
Farm owner Katie Pasitney posted a video on her Facebook page on Friday morning.
“We have had one of our biggest, beautiful roosters that has been shot,” she said in the video.
“We’re working with RCMP right now. We are doing all of the appropriate things. Just send love and prayers to the farm right now.”
The ostrich was discovered on Friday morning.
Cpl. James Grandy with the Southeast District RCMP confirmed to Global News that Nakusp RCMP received a report of an ostrich being shot and killed.
He said an investigation has been launched.
Supporters camping out at the ostrich farm also claim that a drone was seen flying over the farm in the middle of the night, but RCMP did not have any details on that.
This is not the first time an ostrich has been shot on the farm, with a similar incident reported at the end of March.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has ordered a cull of the entire herd of ostriches after avian flu was detected on the farm in December.
The farm has argued the ostriches have since achieved herd immunity and say they are now in “a war” to stop the destruction of the nearly 400 birds.
Hundreds of protesters have gathered at the farm and say they are there for the long haul.
One of the protesters, Jim Kerr, said the plan at this moment is to stay “peaceful, loving, and lawful.”
But Kerr says that doesn’t mean they will make it easy for the authorities if they come by, saying the group intends to “slow them down” or catch them doing anything that would be “deemed to be against the law.”
Two days ago, RCMP liaison officers visited the ostrich farm with multiple livestreams showing three officers in police liaison jackets and one in uniform.
They told protesters and the farm’s owners they want whatever happens at the farm to be lawful and peaceful, with one telling Kerr that if protesters want to be arrested, police “don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Regional district bans ostrich carcasses from local landfills
-with files from The Canadian Press