Dr. Oz is begging the Canadian government to toss aside a court ruling last week that gave it the go-ahead to kill 400 ostriches over bird-flu worries.
“America’s Doctor” — who has made it his latest mission to save the giant birds alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and New York City supermarket magnet John Catsimatidis — acknowledges that the ostriches had been infected but notes they survived and need to be studied, not slaughtered.
“Maybe they’ve got secrets that can help other birds [and] more importantly, humans,” Dr. Mehmet Oz said Sunday on Catsimatidis’s 770 WABC radio program, “Cats Roundtable.”
The latest development in the battle over the birds occurred last week when a court in Canada ruled that the country’s Food Inspection Agency could cull hundreds of ostriches to prevent the spread of H5NI avian flu. The case is being appealed to Canada’s highest court.
“How is it that all these birds survived this horrible illness,” Oz said Sunday.
“They have secrets in them that we can learn from, and it makes perfect sense for America and Canada to cooperate on this — we can do all kinds of research,” said Oz, a heart surgeon dubbed “America’s Doctor” by onetime devotee TV titan Oprah Winfrey and who now heads President Trump’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Oz wants the ostriches transported to the US and has even offered to safeguard them at his Florida ranch.
“This is the kind of thing you should do if you’re truly a curious person. And the MAHA [Make America Healthy Again] movement is about being curious,” the doc said.
“A curious person would say, ‘Can we learn from these birds?’ The answer is yes. A courageous person would find a way to get them to America. And a compassionate person would share the wisdom.”
Catsimatidis has said he joined the fight to save the birds as an animal lover, while RFK Jr. has owned an emu and cited science in his support of Oz’s battle.
A total of 69 birds died at the ostrich farm at an Edgewood, British Columbia, farm in December and January, Canadian media reported.
The farmers say the flock is now healthy, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency claims the cull is necessary because flocks exposed to the avian virus could mutate and spread.
Canada also must be vigilant to prevent the spread of bird flu to keep faith with its trading partners.
Oz acknowledged the Canadian government’s concern but said the herd of ostriches in question is a “unique” case and that authorities shouldn’t foreclose research on the birds could lead to a “a possible solution to help the whole world.”
Universal Ostrich Farms, which owns the herd of ostriches, has an application to the Supreme Court of Canada for another stay of the cull.
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