The intersection of animal agriculture, public health, and misinformation has created a dangerous landscape where the welfare of non-human animals and the well-being of human-animals are at increasing risk. A recent post from Little Oink Bank Pig Sanctuary in BC highlights these concerns, shedding light on the avian flu outbreak among ostriches, the broader implications of factory farming, and the challenges of public discourse surrounding these issues.
The Ostrich Outbreak and a Masterful PR Campaign
At the center of the discussion is Universal Ostrich, a facility that has positioned itself as a research and breeding farm rather than a meat production operation. Despite this, the company supplies the ostrich meat industry and has plans to expand into farming ostriches for meat. The sanctuary’s post critiques the way Universal Ostrich has leveraged a “family farm” narrative to garner public sympathy while simultaneously being deeply embedded in industrial animal agriculture.
This framing has caused an unusual divide within the vegan and animal rights communities. Many who typically advocate against animal agriculture are defending this corporation, possibly due to speciesist biases. Would these same advocates rush to defend a corporate breeding facility for cows or chickens? The post challenges activists to question their own biases and remain consistent in their opposition to animal exploitation.
Animal Welfare Media of BC has previously reported on the Universal Ostrich facility’s role in animal agriculture and the avian flu crisis. As highlighted in our prior coverage, "The farm's carefully curated image contrasts starkly with the reality of its operations, which directly feed into the meat industry despite claims of a different mission." (Read our previous article here).
Government Distrust and Anti-Science Mentality
The post also touches on a growing distrust in government regulations, a sentiment that has been exacerbated by the political landscape of recent years. With increasing skepticism toward scientific institutions, many people now challenge the validity of avian flu testing and the necessity of culling infected flocks. This skepticism mirrors broader anti-science trends that have taken hold since the COVID-19 pandemic, where misinformation and conspiracy theories often overshadow expert consensus.
The post makes a compelling comparison: If a trained mechanic diagnoses a problem with a vehicle, most people would accept their expertise. Why, then, do so many disregard decades of virology research in favor of fringe internet sources? This selective distrust in science creates an environment where dangerous diseases can spread unchecked, putting both non-human and human-animals at risk.
The Emerging Threat of H5N1 in Mammals
Avian influenza has already led to the deaths of millions of birds worldwide, but the issue is far from limited to avian species. The sanctuary highlights alarming new developments: H5N1 has been detected in dairy cows, sea lions, farmed mink, and even companion animals. Most concerning of all is the virus’s recent leap to pigs.
Pigs are notorious for their ability to act as “mixing vessels” for influenza viruses. Because they can be infected by both avian and human flu strains, the risk of viral reassortment—where genetic material from different viruses combines to form a new, potentially more dangerous strain—is high. The post warns that this could pave the way for a future pandemic, one that could have devastating consequences for human-animals worldwide.
Factory Farming: The Root of the Problem
While the immediate crisis is the spread of H5N1, the underlying issue remains the conditions in which non-human animals are farmed. Factory farms provide the ideal breeding grounds for viruses to mutate and spread. The post emphasizes that the real anger should not be directed at regulations designed to curb the spread of disease but rather at the industries that have created the conditions for these outbreaks in the first place.
The final call to action is clear: Consumers and voters must take responsibility for the systems they support. Industrial animal agriculture is not just an ethical concern—it is a ticking time bomb for public health. The continued exploitation of non-human animals for profit, coupled with widespread denialism and misinformation, threatens us all.
Link to original post by Little Oink Bank Pig Sanctuary https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15w55B5KfZ/
Below is the full unedited post from Little Oink Bank Pig Sanctuary:
Teaching Tuesday:
I have been asking myself why I keep engaging with random posts and commenters on both vegan and non-vegan pages regarding the ostrich research and testing facility currently running an emotionally charged media campaign because they have birds who have tested positive (and died) from Avian Flu.
I am not one to expend precious energy in social media battles with strangers on the internet, so I try to keep my replies or comments factual, never straying from the point I am trying to make.
The ostrich situation seems to have happened at such a time in history to have created a perfect storm of bystander sympathy. Let me explain:
* The face-value "family farm" narrative by Universal Ostrich.
This corporation has devised a masterful campaign wherein their claim that they don't farm ostriches for meat has somehow given them some kind of exempt status from being considered industrial farming. They claim on page one of their own website that they are a breeding and production (and research) facility that fully supplies the ostrich meat farming industry. Further, they claim that some of the ostriches are 30 years old. When compared to the lifespan of a layer hen, this seems like an eternity. But an ostrich's lifespan in "human care" can reach up to 70 years. In that case, one would expect a breeding and research facility to keep their layers and subjects alive as long as they are of use and financially profitable. It doesn't take a great cynical leap to realize these are not bragging rights when it comes to animal husbandry, it just means they're still worth more alive than dead.
* Is it a species thing?
Most vegans would not waste one second of their time and energy defending a "family run" corporate research and breeding facility if you replaced the word "ostrich" with "cow", "chicken", or "pig". Why are so many vegans flocking (ugh) to defend this company, despite being shown the company's actual operating module of fully supporting the ostrich meat industry and their future plans to farm ostriches for meat, in addition to their current activities. Is speciesism at play here?
* Is it a government thing?
In the "Blame Trudeau" post-global-pandemic, "fake news" era, there have been many comments regarding big government overstepping, or indeed, stepping on the rights of the little guy (little guy in this case being a corporation that supports the agricultural industrial complex, while running a highly cynical media campaign and calling themself a "family farm"). Is it the growing mistrust and disregard for government regulation?
And finally, I come to my most concerning question.
* Is it a not trusting science thing?
If you're still with me, kudos to you. I appreciate your taking the time to stick with my ramblings, since this has been niggling at the back of my brain for a number of weeks now. I wanted to leave this for the end because it is by far the most concerning part of this issue for a couple of reasons. Many comments on both the vegan and non-vegan posts related to "alleged" positive test results for H5N1 Avian Influenza, as well as calling the standard and approved testing methods into question. This speaks of the growing anti-science mentality we have seen since, oh, say 2016-2020, and beyond. I don't pretend to be an expert on virology. As such I rely on the years and decades of training and experience within the medical and scientific community. To put it another way, if I had a persistent shudder in the front end of my car, and my professionally trained, experienced mechanic told me it was my control arm or my hub assembly, I would not dismiss this as "so-called" or "pseudo" mechanic speak. Why people choose to believe the random YouTube video or article from some site with a name like freedompatriot1492.c0m over their own physician is beyond me. Arguably, to believe Karl regarding the hub assembly, but to think he's a patsy to Big Rotor, or bought out by some vast evil underground global calliper ring is really hard for me to wrap my head around. The level of selective belief toward science is no different these days.
But I digress. Here is the crux of the situation. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is an enormous threat. The potential for devastation does not just threaten my winged residents. In addition to the millions of bird victims, H5N1 has evolved to become a problem for mammals. Now found in 973 herds of dairy cows in the US (CDC), it is also ravaging sea lion and sea elephant colonies off the coast of South America. In Canada it has been detected in red foxes, alpacas, raccoons, skunks and dogs and cats, INCLUDING strictly indoor cats. In Europe it is currently racing through farmed mink populations. To make matters worse, studies have shown that H5N1 can be transmitted by both house flies and blowflies (Inspection Canada - CIFA). Cases of H5N1 in humans are linked primarily to those in contact with infected dairy cows - not in the respiratory tract, as expected, but in the MILK. This is new and very concerning.
Now for the REALLY scary part - yeah, we're not there yet. Getting there now.
It's jumped the species vector to pigs. "Okay Carrie", you're thinking. "We get it. Pigs are your favourite people". And while that's true, it's a terrifying development for much more far-reaching reasons.
On October 29/30, 2024, the first reported case of H5N1 influenza, or Bird Flu in a pig was reported in Oregon (Michigan Medicine, JAMA).
Alright, buckle up for this - All flu viruses are essentially avian flu viruses. Every now and then they cross over into mammals (which sometimes includes people). When that happens we can see a pandemic and/or they turn into a strain of seasonal flu. H3N2 caused the 1968 pandemic and now it's a seasonal flu. Same in 2009, with H1N1. Cows and the milk development is concerning enough, but the virus having jumped to pigs is a new threat level for a number of reasons. Like cows, pigs are a big agricultural species with a ton of human contact. They're also kept in horribly close quarters, and in less than hygienic conditions. Once the avian virus is there, it will start swapping its genes with the pig flu viruses also present in a process called REASSORTMENT. Unlike bacterial and fungal infections, that essentially eat the host, viruses want to evolve themselves into something that will keep the host alive long enough to reproduce itself. If hosts die, viruses evolve to be better at keeping hosts alive a little longer (but in the case of something like Ebola Zaire, the virus has evolved to the point that it can reach maximum viral load and spread from its host in an incredibly short amount of time, thereby killing the original host and essentially exploding from it to infect everyone in its path). Reassortment in pigs is the most efficient pathway for a virus to adapt to spread to human mammals.
Reporting and managing H5N1 has become more necessary than ever due to this elevated threat and any hope of containment relies on this. Of course our neighbours to the south are experiencing a crisis of a different sort that could well create the perfect conditions to fuel the next global pandemic. With the US having withdrawn from the World Health Organization, and other reporting and governing or regulating groups, and the propaganda of "fake news" and deregulation being one of the main priorities of the current administration, monitoring of, and accurate reporting on ongoing outbreaks (which up to this point was a DAILY occurrence, I know because I follow the reports as an interested party) will now be called into question.
Because pigs can be infected by both bird flu, and human flu (plus their own little specialized flus - shout out to African Swine Flu), they become the perfect mixing vessel for novel viruses much more evolved to thrive in the new host. Is this an immediate concern? Maybe. Or maybe it’s our kids' problem 25 or 50 years from now. But when you consider the long game, that strain of influenza that caused the Swine Flu pandemic in 2009 was a virus that entered pigs in 1918. Does that date ring an ominous-sounding bell? That's because it was the Spanish Flu virus.
Bringing this back from the global implications, as a sanctuary guardian, this is an immense threat. Not only have our avian residents been on full lock down for several years, we have severely restricted our visitors and events at the sanctuary, and continue to enforce biosecurity measures, not only for the safety of our own residents, but we would hate to be responsible for further spread of any pathogen with the potential for such global devistation.
Final thoughts. BE ANGRY! Be angry that 400 ostriches are being "culled" because a farming company did not take enough measures to keep them safe. It has been an ongoing issue with this company and did not sneak up on them. Don't be mad at the attempt to keep a virus from spreading.
BE ANGRY that 20 MILLION layer hens were killed or died from H5N1 in the just the US in only the LAST QUARTER ALONE! BE ANGRY that pigs and cows and chickens, and YES, OSTRICHES are kept in the conditions that provide the perfect petri dish for viruses to evolve to become better at doing what they do.
BE ANGRY at voters and shoppers who speak with their ballots and their wallets for legislations that allow minimum oversight on these industries, and who aren't brave or thoughtful enough to address what's on their own plates as being the easiest fix to the problem.
Don't be mad because regulations and testing exist to combat the problem that is so far beyond human control that k*lling entire flocks or herds is the only answer. Because by that point, it's too late. Be mad that we are currently being lied to by millionaires and billionaires who don't actually care about mask regulations, or wet markets, or industry policing, or the "rights of the little guy". Be mad at our own arrogance and hubris that is standing in our own way of even examining the issue head-on. Cognitive dissonance runs deep, even for vegans and activists. It's part and parcel of several multi-billion dollar industries that are counting on (and feeding) that casual mistrust of science and government. In the long run it means MORE bird deaths, along with more and more species at risk, including our own.
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