RFK Offers to Relocate Bird-Flu Infected Ostriches to the U.S.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sticking his neck out for a group of infected ostriches by offering to save them from the Canadian government and bring them to U.S. soil.

Canadian health authorities issued a kill order for roughly 400 of the birds, who reside on a farm in British Columbia (BC), over fears that they have bird flu, the Guardian reported. Samples collected from two tested birds found them to be positive for the illness, which can kill humans in very rare circumstances.

But RFK Jr., the secretary of health and human services, is planning to intervene and rescue the flock. He and Mehmet Oz, the former daytime TV host appointed by Trump as the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, have teamed up to bring the ostriches to Oz’s ranch in Florida.

The owner, Karen Espersen, said that Oz had personally promised them refuge. “He said: ‘You know if by chance you want to move [them] to the States, I got 900 acres,’” she said.

The birds’ dire fate was called into question in December when an anonymous source told authorities that some of them were dying on the farm. Court documents show that a total of 69 ostriches died from the flu, but they argued that none of the others showed symptoms and none had died since January.

Nevertheless, they were ordered to kill the birds, with the Canadian government saying that they were following a “stamping out” policy in line with advice from the World Health Organization (WHO), which Trump withdrew from on the first day of his second term. The Universal Ostrich owners sued over the order.

“We are not against our government,” Espersen said. “But we’re very, very saddened our government [does not believe the birds are well].”

Kennedy, Oz, and Greek billionaire John Catsimatidis are all lobbying the Canadian government to reverse the order. Kennedy sent a letter to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) urging them to reconsider their stance.

“It doesn’t help anyone to kill the birds,” Oz told the New York Post.

Bird flu in the U.S. has slowly been spreading, forcing egg prices to skyrocket. Although a U.S. citizen died of bird flu in early January, there hasn’t been a case in the country in three months. Those were diagnosed earlier reported only mild illnesses.

Kennedy and Oz’s plan to bring the ostriches stateside come as the Trump administration seeks to skate due process to expel thousands of undocumented immigrants who are living and working in the United States.

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