The spokesperson and co-owner of a B.C. ostrich farm fighting a cull order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) were arrested Tuesday, as tensions continued to boil between the federal agency, RCMP and supporters of the farm.
In a video posted to Facebook by Thundra Amo Kerr, farm co-owner Dave Bilinski tells a group of supporters that his business partner Karen Esperson and her daughter and farm spokesperson Katie Pasitney were the two people arrested.
The pair are also named by a man wearing clothing that identifies him as an RCMP liaison officer in a video posted to the same account.
In the video, the unnamed officer explains that the pair were warned of the arrest if they continued to stay with the birds after being given a warrant Monday.
“They knew this was going to be the next circumstance, right? It was going to be the next stage,” he says.
He then states that the pair would be released if they signed an undertaking agreeing to certain conditions they would have to follow, which includes not returning to the farm.
The Canadian Press reported that Staff Sgt. Kris Clark would not confirm who was taken into custody, but said the two people inside the enclosure refused to leave and “were subsequently arrested.”
Clark said they have been taken to the RCMP command post to be processed before they are released.
He said the two were arrested under the Health of Animals Act but that no charges have yet been laid.
He previously told reporters that RCMP are at the farm at the request of the CFIA to enforce the law, secure the property and ensure the safety of the public and CFIA officers “as they conduct their business.”
CBC News has reached out to RCMP for comment on Tuesday but has not heard back.
The arrests mark the latest in an increasingly tense situation at the farm which has been fighting the cull order for ten months, attracting worldwide attention.
Read more about the background of this case: How the fate of a herd of ostriches on a small B.C. farm caught the attention of the Trump administration.
CFIA takes control of property
Backed by RCMP, the CFIA served a warrant on the property on Monday, where the owners of Universal Ostrich Farms have been fighting a cull order prompted by an outbreak of avian influenza in December 2024 that killed 69 of their ostriches.
A number of Mounties were on hand Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, as a search warrant was served to owners and supporters of Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C. (Curtis Allen for CBC)
In a video posted to Facebook Tuesday morning by Pasitney, a man wearing a jacket labeled “RCMP” tells Pasitney she will be arrested if she doesn’t leave.
“You have to leave the property … The other option is, my compatriots here have to come in and arrest you,” the man says.
The video is filmed through the ostriches’ pen and shows CFIA officials and multiple police officers on the other side of its wire fence.
Emotions were elevated at Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and police attended the farm with a search warrant. (Curtis Allen for CBC)
In a separate video posted by Pasitney, a man, who identifies himself as a CFIA inspector, tells the farmers they would be allowed to stay in the birds’ pen overnight Monday.
However, the unnamed man says the CFIA has control of the property and there would be “consequences” if the farmers did not leave voluntarily overnight or on Tuesday.
Supporters of the farm who were at the site Monday were yelling at the officers present, with one witness yelling at police to “have a heart” and telling them that “the world is watching.”
Supporters of Universal Ostrich Farms gather in Edgewood on Monday. (Aaron Hemens/The Canadian Press)
The farmers have brought their fight to save about 400 surviving ostriches to multiple levels of court, arguing they are now healthy and scientifically valuable, while the CFIA has said the birds were infected with a more lethal strain of the virus.
The federal agency has said in court documents that its policies do not provide for additional testing.
It said the chances the birds are infected or will become infected is unknown “due to gaps in the available science regarding how long immunity to [avian influenza] viruses may last in an individual ostrich,” as well as a lack of information about how many ostriches were infected during the original outbreaks.
The CFIA said a source of infection or reinfection with avian influenza can remain in the environment long after individual infected birds have recovered
The farmers have repeatedly called for testing to determine the birds’ status, and Pasitney told the media Monday that the farmers’ lawyer was filing paperwork in an attempt to have the case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Companies facing pressure not to support cull
In multiple videos posted by Pasitney and her supporters, emotions can be seen running high as individuals opposed to the cull appeal to police and CFIA staff not to carry it out.
In some videos, Esperson and Pasitney are in tears as they plead to be allowed to stay with the birds even as they face the cull.
They have also urged their supporters to flood the phone lines and email addresses of anyone they believe can help, including local SPCA and humane societies, as well as RCMP and CFIA non-emergency lines.
Several businesses believed to be contracted to support the cull have also been targeted.
Over the weekend a local vehicle rental company was slammed with negative reviews after word got out that part of their fleet had been contracted to support the operation.
They later issued a statement saying they had recalled their vehicles from the CFIA and stating they did not know they would be used in the operation.
Pasitney has also posted to Facebook urging supporters to call local hotels, fuel companies and other businesses whose services may be utilized by the CFIA.
The local regional district has already stated it would not accept the carcasses of the birds at their landfills.
The CFIA has not provided details of how the cull will take place, nor how the agency will dispose of the birds.