Drea Humphrey spent a week living out of a camper van on a farm in British Columbia, Canada, to document the fight to save the birds. She talks to Sheila Gunn-Reed about what it takes to protect the birds, and why it s so important to keep them alive.
00:00:00.000I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gun Show.
00:00:30.000My friend and colleague Drea Humphrey just spent a week living out of a camper van on a farm in Edgewood, BC because that's what it takes when the government tries to quietly wipe out 400 healthy ostriches and no one else is asking the hard questions.
00:00:48.280The Canadian Food Inspection Agency claims it's about H5N1 avian flu, but they haven't proven a single active case on site.
00:00:56.940There are no clear outbreaks, no transparent science, just a kill order for every bird.
00:02:06.640Drea, I wanted to have you on because there's a lot of moving pieces.
00:02:10.520A lot of things have even changed or presented themselves, I guess, since you came home from your, I guess, almost a week-long stay this time with the ostriches.
00:02:33.600Why do I suddenly care about ostriches after spending a lifetime of disliking them?
00:02:39.200You and others, you know, across the board are caring about the ostriches for, number one, the very basic reason is that it is not humane to kill healthy animals.
00:02:50.620So that is really unifying people from all political backgrounds.
00:02:55.360However, this is a serious threat if this call goes through and even the fact that despite the farmers pushback, it's gotten this far to farming and food sovereignty, to freedom in science and to even property rights.
00:03:13.440I mean, the sky is the limit when the state can come in by an anonymous tip, which, by the way, they don't even need an anonymous tip.
00:03:22.960It can be the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's suspicions for some reasons that you may have avian flu.
00:03:29.860But in this case, it was an anonymous tip that occurred late last year.
00:03:41.140We went to the vet like we're supposed to.
00:03:44.060The assumption is that it's similar to a sickness they had earlier, a couple of years ago, except for the younger ones, because they were newer ostriches and they were treating them the same way.
00:03:55.760Now, for those of you who have been watching our coverage for years, you know that the PCR test has a lot of issues, including the inventor, the late Kerry Mullis, saying that it should not and cannot be used to diagnose anything.
00:04:11.320They asked to see some of the dead carcasses and they only test two, which is very fascinating.
00:04:19.100Out of hundreds, including living ostriches, they choose to only test two with the PCR test that were deceased.
00:04:28.940And from that, they say that there was avian flu present.
00:04:33.300So a little bit of time passed and the the farmers who, by the way, are not farming these ostriches anymore for food since 2020.
00:04:45.820They have been part of research, groundbreaking research that, according to them, has neutralized COVID-19, not just one strain, multiple strains, meaning according to them, what they have doesn't require you to get a booster every three months if you get it.
00:05:04.460Um, and they're very close, according to them, to doing that to the avian flu.
00:05:09.520Um, so you have the CFIA calling millions upon millions of birds.
00:05:15.840In British Columbia, it's been almost nine million in the name of the avian flu in the last three years, saying these birds must die after the farmers say, wait, our older birds, which is 85% of our flock, they were asymptomatic.
00:05:30.580And that's consistent with what they had before.
00:05:33.880But not only that, as months pass, right?
00:05:38.180It's five months now because they had a legal battle in between, but they've been asymptomatic and healthy.
00:05:43.14085% of the flock, which means it's not, um, when 80, when less than 85% of your flock die, it's not supposed to be what they call a high pathogen.
00:05:55.160So, all signs point to, let's test these birds for antibodies and immunity and leave them alone.
00:06:02.160But the state of Canada is hell-bent on doing the opposite.
00:06:06.260And that's what the stand's all about.
00:06:08.200Now, I'm going to ask you to speculate because I've done nothing but wildly speculate about this story and all the little side quests that I go on with this story.
00:06:18.660But why do you think the Canadian government, the CFIA, is so hell-bent on euthanizing these birds?
00:06:27.280You know, I'm working on a piece where I'm going to put it all together.
00:06:31.980We might call it a conspiracy theory piece.
00:06:34.940But as we know, sometimes conspiracy theories are accurate.
00:06:38.160The thing that I'm noticing, again, from people across different political backgrounds, is that they themselves come to the conclusion of the research.
00:06:51.840I have seen people in my own family come to that conclusion.
00:06:55.820They're saying, do they, they're at least questioning, do they want to end this research?
00:07:00.160Especially when you see the United States pleading for the opposite approach.
00:07:07.520Our largest trading partner is saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:07:19.820So you start to think they're healthy.
00:07:23.160The CFIA is refusing to retest them to prove the farmers wrong or prove themselves right.
00:07:30.160And they're getting immense pushback politically, now internationally, and they're still saying they're moving forward.
00:07:36.060So you tell me what's left other than to take a close look at, hey, if these farmers are right,
00:07:41.580if they really have found this way to, with non-mRNA, because, you know, $600 million just went to Moderna to find an mRNA vaccine for the avian flu,
00:07:54.060maybe it's bad for someone's business for them to move forward with their ostriches that are alive and originated from Africa.
00:08:05.000They've, they've had, I'm assuming, a lot of viruses.
00:08:07.900And this farm has been farming them for 30 years, but many of them were alive before that.
00:08:12.560And I think there's also just the, besides the money, I think, that someone stands to make if these birds are not part of finding a solution to these pathogens in another way that doesn't involve the mRNA.
00:08:30.500I think the government has long thrown out the idea of something that we just accepted as reality for a very long time, herd immunity, natural immunity.
00:08:42.420Like we, all of a sudden during COVID, we weren't allowed to talk about those things.
00:08:45.800We had to pretend like they didn't exist and herd immunity and natural immunity were just things that conspiracy theorists talked about instead of like the basis for the majority of our vaccination programs prior to 2020.
00:08:58.480And, you know, like, even if you don't care about ostriches and I didn't care about ostriches, actually, I, I, I'll say something even harsher.
00:09:06.760Not only did I not care about ostriches, I, I really didn't like them and I'm not sure I like them, but I really didn't like ostriches.
00:09:15.180But the point of this all is, if they can do this with these healthy research birds, they can do it with anything.
00:09:22.300We, again, if people want to think that that's a conspiracy theory, can I point you to Bill C-293?
00:09:30.060That was the private members bill that thankfully died when parliament was prorogued.
00:09:37.600And that was what they called the pandemic bill or more likely the vegan bill because it gave the government the power to cull animals or close meat production facilities if somebody in the government decided that these places were a disease vector for the next pandemic.
00:09:56.460And that's exactly what they're trying to do to these birds right now.
00:10:00.000Well, you mentioned the herd immunity.
00:10:04.660It's a direct quote from inside one of the legal proceedings of what the CFIA's lawyer said, you know, in response to the farmers' law and say, let's just test them for natural immunity.
00:10:15.480Someone's made a meme out of it, but on the left, it's that quote.
00:10:18.640They said, there is a small subset of the population that holds certain beliefs about herd immunity.
00:10:25.440Again, there's your small fringe minority sort of slap back.
00:10:34.640I mean, how many other farmers, I think it's over 238 just in British Columbia alone that have been culled in the last three years in the name of avian flu.
00:10:43.940So we don't know how many said, well, wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:10:48.300Then you go ahead and you don't do your stamp out policy, which is, well, we killed them all as soon as we take this PCR test, which, by the way, that policy comes from the World Health Organization.
00:11:00.280So what would that, what Pandora's box opens if you allow these birds to live, but perhaps you've had similar quiet battles with other farms beforehand?
00:11:12.820I mean, a chicken farm, you know, a turkey farm, this may have happened to them.
00:11:19.280It's a little less interesting and odd because it's not a bunch of weird looking space alien looking ostriches.
00:11:25.340But yeah, this has happened to farms before.
00:11:27.940And this seems to be where everyone is coalescing around the idea that the government is overreaching here.
00:11:37.100Even David Eby, like, since when do we find David Eby on the same side of an issue as me, you, RFK, Dr. Oz, and just general normal people?
00:11:53.060Since when do we find the mainstream media, for lack of better words, reporting pretty fair on the situation?
00:12:00.540And to be honest, I think that has a lot to do with the people, the everyday people who aren't overly into politics, being able to come to the conclusion that there's overreach because they're not being distracted.
00:12:13.000You know, when, when RFK Jr. put out his statement, they're not being distracted with, oh, he's aligned with Trump or, you know, those narratives are not going out.
00:12:20.820Except that Taiyi did a horrible piece and one CBC journalist, you know, both of those pieces trying to sort of frame the protesters as potentially being violent, which nothing of the sorts is happening there.
00:12:34.740So, yeah, it is definitely a unifying issue.
00:12:44.800You know, and you just touched on it lately, but let's talk about it a little bit.
00:12:48.180You spent about a week at the farm this time.
00:12:51.880You were in the Rebel News camper van.
00:12:55.420Tell us what it's like at the farm because, you know, you had the police visit, I think, to take the temperature of the ostrich-a-palooza that is happening there.
00:14:18.180There is security surrounding the property 24 hours.
00:14:22.680And they had to up that after a mysterious, the second mysterious murder of one of the ostriches was quite bizarre to be there while it was happening.
00:14:33.600And then you have the small town sort of RCMP popping by.
00:14:37.460So you mentioned them popping by, which obviously was to case the joint.
00:14:42.100They said it was for a wellness check.
00:15:17.480I've heard people say a lot from Alberta.
00:15:19.520I've heard people say they're from Ontario.
00:15:21.520And they're really concerned about this issue.
00:15:24.660And you hit it on the nail when you said, if our liberal government isn't going to simply just say, hey, let's have another look at our policy.
00:15:35.660They could just test them for immunity.
00:15:37.440If they're not going to do that when the farmers are part of research claiming to be able to take down COVID and avian flu, then no animal is safe.
00:16:04.000Because, uh, the way that they say that some of these farms are contracting avian flu is through migratory birds and migratory birds are everywhere.
00:16:17.220And if your cat, your dog, uh, your bunny rabbit is outside and is exposed to migratory birds, uh, you could have the CFIA beating down your door, um, and exterminating your pets.
00:16:29.280Global News has already put a piece out telling us experts are concerned because it's passing into cats.
00:16:37.100Um, now they put the stat on there of, you know, across, I can't remember, but across many countries, there's only been very few cases and they say the cats are asymptomatic as well.
00:16:49.420Um, so that's a whole other thing, but you know, you're already warming up to that.
00:16:54.000And actually pets have been called, um, in the name of the avian flu before, because if you have a dog and you have a farm and that dog goes near the animals, sometimes they've been called for that.
00:17:07.520So definitely it's not out of the reach.
00:17:10.400Now, I just touched on it briefly that David Eby is on the same side of an issue as RFK and Dr. Oz.
00:17:16.760So the Americans are watching this with great interest.
00:17:22.640The Americans, and again, I don't know if they're in it for the, the business or just, just to fight, but they see something in these birds in this fight that apparently our liberal government does not.
00:17:32.420And so you have RFK Jr. who wrote a very sensible science based, uh, letter saying, you know, basically these animals are worth far more alive than dead.
00:17:43.540Um, and then you have a, uh, super market, uh, billionaire, John, I'm going to put it, put his name here.
00:17:51.600Cause I have a hard time saying his long last name.
00:17:53.780Um, he's really been, you know, promoting it on his radio show.
00:18:00.420Um, so Dr. Oz is now at the top of their Medicare system in the U S and he said, Hey, you know what?
00:18:08.120We got to basically get these, save these birds, let them refugee over to my ranch, my 900 acre ranch in Florida.
00:18:18.340Um, you know, Canada's got to get its head out of the sand.
00:18:21.520That's what he said, you know, with a little pun towards ostriches.
00:18:24.520Um, now the farmers have, you know, been in contact with Dr. Oz and I don't know exactly what, I know it's crazy that this grassroots fight has led all the way to the secretary of health of the United States and, and beyond.
00:18:41.400And they're having conversations with these people.
00:18:44.320Um, I don't know the ins and outs of the conversation.
00:18:46.800I do know that they declined the offer, um, for, I don't even know how that would have worked out logistically, but for the ostriches to make it there while they're in quarantine, or maybe not physically make it there.
00:18:57.460Maybe, I don't know how that would work, but they did decline.
00:18:59.860They say they want this fight to be in Canada and they want Canada to change on this issue.
00:19:07.180Yeah, I guess that's, at the beginning, I was like, they could have pulled the old Tiger King disappearing act and start plunking these ostriches everywhere.
00:19:25.200Um, tell me real quick about the young lady who is an avian flu survivor, who is frequently put forward as the reason this call is necessary.
00:19:39.720We've talked about the public pushback, the political pushback, and I'm sure, sure the very last person, perhaps the CFIA expected to be getting pushback is from the, the infamous 13 year old girl.
00:19:53.600Who's been deemed Canada's first avian flu human case.
00:20:41.200And, um, a couple of interesting things that I noticed the mainstream media has ignored over that story, despite them continuously, oh, the 13 year old girl.
00:20:51.720They never let the public know that she, according to the family, has no recollection of being around any birds.
00:21:00.060However, she was exposed to a very ill dog that had, didn't have avian flu, had some sort of other illness.
00:21:08.960Um, so I don't know if that's related, but you'd think as a journalist, you would want to know some more about that.
00:21:16.180They were sort of volunteering to help care for the dog.
00:21:18.540The child, uh, the 13 year old teen got sick shortly after that.
00:21:22.460She was hospitalized, uh, beginning of November.
00:21:25.780And the dog was put down just a couple of days later.
00:21:28.660So you'd think the public would know about that, especially since, um, they're being told that the strain they have is from ducks in Alberta.
00:21:38.220They're out here in BC, not around ducks.
00:21:49.920Um, so this child, this teen's antibodies are being tested for research based out of, uh, Toronto.
00:21:57.380Oh, but yet we're going to kill these ostriches who we know have antibodies because it's been months.
00:22:05.020We're going to destroy all that and do nothing with, um, their antibodies for this avian flu that they're saying is, you know, so important for us to handle in such a way.
00:22:15.300Nobody in their family, despite being, you know, around their daughter got avian flu.
00:22:20.780So again, this is supposed to be about contagion.
00:22:24.180Um, that's not what we're seeing here and they don't know.
00:22:27.220They're scratching their heads on how they, she even got it in the first place.
00:22:31.740I saw in the press conference, they said that they had the disease confirmed independently, um, beyond, uh, just the hospital testing, which I think was important, but they still don't know how she caught it.
00:22:43.780Um, and yeah, uh, big irony there that her antibodies now that she's recovered from the avian flu can be used in research, but ostriches who have experienced the same, um, though they're going to be called, I guess we should be grateful that they're not calling this young lady.
00:23:01.080Tell us about the state of the birds right now, because now like me, so many people are bizarrely emotionally invested in them.
00:23:09.280Um, well, the farmers are continuously pleading for the public to come out there, whether it's a day trip, you want to stay a week, you want to stay a couple of days, get to look the birds in the eye.
00:23:19.340And I could see why they're saying that because when you get there, whether you like them or not, I mean, it is something special.
00:23:26.400I had never looked an ostrich in the eye and their eyes are huge.
00:23:29.140And, um, you know, they're just so inquisitive.
00:23:32.620Like when you go and you talk by them, you can see my videos, they come up and they stand behind.
00:23:36.960It's like, almost like they know they're famous now and they show off and they, they play with balls and they fight with each other.
00:23:45.460I mean, it's just so ridiculous when you go out there and you look at them and how healthy and thriving they are to think that the CFIA is, is continuing on this route.
00:23:55.180So if you can go out there yourself, experience it, um, there's that little bit of convoyish aspect to it where, where, you know, it's more like the prairies or whatever, but people have come together.
00:24:10.320And, um, it, it's, it is really amazing to look at those birds and it's quite disheartening to know that even now, even though there's a temporary pause on the call by agreement between councils, simply to allow the farmers, lawyers to get a stay application in, um, if that stay is granted, then I would assume there's going to be a pause for longer while they get to the next stage of appeal.
00:24:38.300If it's not granted, the CFIA has made it very clear.
00:24:42.020They will be calling these birds, despite everything we've discussed in this show.
00:26:13.720So savetheostriches.com and please, if you can, um, because I think this is the first time I've done this for this long, where basically the whole BC Bureau is focused on this, this story, an imminent threat to our food security and more.
00:26:31.080Um, so what happens is it's not just the travel expenses.
00:26:34.520It's not just the expense to, you know, rent the van and be there or whatever.
00:26:38.720It's the expense of not reporting on other, you know, other important issues that maybe bring in an income for Rebel News.
00:26:46.240So if you can donate at savetheostriches.com to keep, you know, it helps me know you want me to keep focusing on this important issue, which I believe is super important.
00:26:55.600Um, please do so at savetheostriches.com.
00:27:00.620Thank you so much for fighting for, uh, I, at the end of the day, even if you don't care about any of this stuff, it's property rights and due process.
00:27:09.080You know, if you, if you're not guilty of the thing that they say you're guilty of, i.e. being sick with avian flu, shouldn't you be entitled to treatment as though you're not sick with avian flu, but it's property rights for farmers, it's food security, it's, uh, it's everything.
00:27:24.740And I'm just so glad that you've dedicated your time to this and made me feel something for ostriches I didn't know that I was capable of.
00:27:59.740If you have something to say about Drea and the ostriches, send it to me there.
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00:28:56.560So today's email comes to us by way of Bruce in Radway, Alberta, long time supporter of Rebel News, long time viewer of my show.
00:29:09.420We couldn't do Rebel News without people like Bruce and his lovely little cat, Delta.
00:29:45.620That was on my show last week with Corey Morgan of the Western Standard, who also wrote a book called The Sovereignist Handbook, available on Amazon.