The type of avian flu infection present at a B.C. ostrich farm where a cull is planned is a mutation not seen elsewhere in Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday.
It said the version includes a genotype that has been associated with a human infection in a poultry worker in Ohio.
The agency also said Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., had been fined $20,000 for failing to co-operate with anti-avian flu measures.
It said the farmers who are resisting a cull order have not substantiated claims of scientific research on the birds, and that the agency’s planning for a cull of the birds goes on as protesters gather in an “apparent attempt” to block the killings….