Concerns grow over loss of major Vernon event, economic benefits

The owners of a remote B.C. ranch where federal authorities have ordered 400 ostriches to be destroyed are sleeping alongside the birds in their pen, in an effort to ward off enforcement as they pursue another legal challenge. Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski, owners of Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, in southeast British Columbia, say they are working to appeal a May 13 Federal Court decision that upheld a Dec. 31 cull order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency over fears of the spread of avian flu. The owners said they will be seeking a stay order.