RCMP probes dwindling Ostrich numbers as CBC laughs at impending deaths
This Hour Has 22 Minutes seems to think soon-to-be-euthanized birds make good comedy while advocates call for counting instead of culling
Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Published Oct 17, 2025 • Last updated 17 minutes ago • 4 minute read
Mark Critch plays fictional Ostrich farmer Elwood Cockburn with ostrich Bessie in a comedy skit on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Mark Critch plays fictional Ostrich farmer Elwood Cockburn with ostrich Bessie in a comedy skit on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
No matter how loudly the CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes laughs and jokes about the culling of living animals, there’s nothing funny about dead ostriches.
Nor is the mocking of the Canadian farmers, who in real life are advocating for them to not be killed but in a mocking way comedian Mark Critch depicts them in wardrobe and narrative as dumb hicks who are subjects of he and the CBC elites’ disdain and ridicule.
Maybe some find the gallows humour at the bird’s expense to be a punch line, but not everybody does. Some have come from around North America to fight for these birds, who are not right wing or left wing but living things.
At least, for now.
The CBC and the Liberal bullies that fund and run the network, as well as the country, have used this unfunny comedy show before to soften up the audience to the narrative that lib-left purveyors of authoritarian government control and regulation are good while Orwellian dystopian death cult behaviour is normal.
An ostrich at the fence line with a Canadian government sign
An ostrich at the fence line with a Canadian government sign.
That crowd in all of the key control positions push abortion, gender fluidity, forced mass experimental inoculations and euthanasia programs like Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) but hate Freedom Convoy truckers and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre who they routinely lampoon as a buffoon while lionizing Prime Minister Mark Carney as a strategic-thinking tough guy who stands up to President Donald Trump in the oval office, which he hasn’t done in real life.
But who knew their hate extended to big birds? Now, we know.
The CBC and This Hour Has 22 minutes are a funded by the taxpayers’ propaganda arm of the prime minister’s office pretending to be doing comedy. It’s not hard to see if you don’t bury your head in the sand.
Meanwhile, where are all the ostriches? The RCMP has opened an investigation into that question.
“They are taking it seriously,” said Karen Espersen, co-owner of the Universal Ostrich farm near Edgewood, British Columbia.
“My granddaughter has given a statement, my partner in the farm has as well and I am going to be doing so too,” said Espersen. “Drone footage indicated the numbers are down.”
Ostriches
Ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farm in British Columbia.
Journalist Chris Dacey, of Dacey Media, has been taking pictures from a nearby mountain with a long lens and worries the bird population has quietly decreased in recent weeks as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the owners of the farm they seized await the Supreme Court to rule on whether a culling order to eliminate the birds for fear of them having the Avian flu is rendered.
It’s a stark scene that looks like something out of a maximum security prison or POW camp. It has the appearance of an apocalyptic movie set, only worse.
Last year, 69 birds – some with Avian flu – were euthanized. But there are many who feel without testing there is no reason to kill the rest of the healthy flock, which was believed to be of about 350 birds.
CFIA tells the Toronto Sun it “has now completed a second estimate on the number of birds on the farm” and “the estimated number remains between 300 and 330.” They add they “note that the estimated bird count and one death have not changed since October 10th.”
But Espersen is skeptical.
“Even if we give them the 330, there are definitely less birds visible than there was,” she said. “We think there are less than 250 now. Where are they?”
Fair question.
No one is suggesting anything untoward has occurred – they are merely reporting what they see from the ground.
Just in case there has been some tranquilization going on, Espersen is hoping the Mounties also interview people staying in tents nearby who have reported hearing “seven to eight pops a night that they believe sounds consistent with what a “dart gun” sounds like.
There has been no official claim or confirmation of dart guns or tranquilization, but Espersen said she’s glad the RCMP is probing this concern.
“I can confirm that our Investigative Services is looking into complaints connected to the number of ostriches on the farm,” RCMP Staff-Sgt. Kris Clark said. “The investigation is in the early stages and no details will be provided to ensure the integrity or our investigative process.”
Rebel News reporter Drea Humphrey, who has been on the scene since the beginning, said the key now is to “keep demanding that the farm or their vet be permitted to do a count appropriately.”
Espersen is asking for that and to test the hens and roosters alike for Avian flu to see if expiring them is even necessary. But with This Hour Has 22 Minutes help, she and her beloved are merely something to make fun of.
Inside this compound the government took over from a family using the eggs as part of medical research, officials have constructed a hay bale area that protesters have called a “kill box” while outside there are disposal bins, tents, trailers and vehicles coming and going at all hours of day and night.
“We try to not look at people making fun of the birds they want to kill and focus on trying to save them,” Espersen said, fighting back tears.
She said anybody who has been on this ground does not find humour here.
“The birds look confused,” said Espersen. “They know something is wrong.”
It’s almost like these ostriches know they are on death row and that Mark Critch and the CBC find it hilarious.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
This Hour Has 22 Minutes seems to think soon-to-be-euthanized birds make good comedy while advocates call for counting instead of culling
Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Published Oct 17, 2025 • Last updated 17 minutes ago • 4 minute read
Mark Critch plays fictional Ostrich farmer Elwood Cockburn with ostrich Bessie in a comedy skit on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Mark Critch plays fictional Ostrich farmer Elwood Cockburn with ostrich Bessie in a comedy skit on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
No matter how loudly the CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes laughs and jokes about the culling of living animals, there’s nothing funny about dead ostriches.
Nor is the mocking of the Canadian farmers, who in real life are advocating for them to not be killed but in a mocking way comedian Mark Critch depicts them in wardrobe and narrative as dumb hicks who are subjects of he and the CBC elites’ disdain and ridicule.
Maybe some find the gallows humour at the bird’s expense to be a punch line, but not everybody does. Some have come from around North America to fight for these birds, who are not right wing or left wing but living things.
At least, for now.
The CBC and the Liberal bullies that fund and run the network, as well as the country, have used this unfunny comedy show before to soften up the audience to the narrative that lib-left purveyors of authoritarian government control and regulation are good while Orwellian dystopian death cult behaviour is normal.
An ostrich at the fence line with a Canadian government sign
An ostrich at the fence line with a Canadian government sign.
That crowd in all of the key control positions push abortion, gender fluidity, forced mass experimental inoculations and euthanasia programs like Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) but hate Freedom Convoy truckers and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre who they routinely lampoon as a buffoon while lionizing Prime Minister Mark Carney as a strategic-thinking tough guy who stands up to President Donald Trump in the oval office, which he hasn’t done in real life.
But who knew their hate extended to big birds? Now, we know.
The CBC and This Hour Has 22 minutes are a funded by the taxpayers’ propaganda arm of the prime minister’s office pretending to be doing comedy. It’s not hard to see if you don’t bury your head in the sand.
Meanwhile, where are all the ostriches? The RCMP has opened an investigation into that question.
“They are taking it seriously,” said Karen Espersen, co-owner of the Universal Ostrich farm near Edgewood, British Columbia.
“My granddaughter has given a statement, my partner in the farm has as well and I am going to be doing so too,” said Espersen. “Drone footage indicated the numbers are down.”
Ostriches
Ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farm in British Columbia.
Journalist Chris Dacey, of Dacey Media, has been taking pictures from a nearby mountain with a long lens and worries the bird population has quietly decreased in recent weeks as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the owners of the farm they seized await the Supreme Court to rule on whether a culling order to eliminate the birds for fear of them having the Avian flu is rendered.
It’s a stark scene that looks like something out of a maximum security prison or POW camp. It has the appearance of an apocalyptic movie set, only worse.
Last year, 69 birds – some with Avian flu – were euthanized. But there are many who feel without testing there is no reason to kill the rest of the healthy flock, which was believed to be of about 350 birds.
CFIA tells the Toronto Sun it “has now completed a second estimate on the number of birds on the farm” and “the estimated number remains between 300 and 330.” They add they “note that the estimated bird count and one death have not changed since October 10th.”
But Espersen is skeptical.
“Even if we give them the 330, there are definitely less birds visible than there was,” she said. “We think there are less than 250 now. Where are they?”
Fair question.
No one is suggesting anything untoward has occurred – they are merely reporting what they see from the ground.
Just in case there has been some tranquilization going on, Espersen is hoping the Mounties also interview people staying in tents nearby who have reported hearing “seven to eight pops a night that they believe sounds consistent with what a “dart gun” sounds like.
There has been no official claim or confirmation of dart guns or tranquilization, but Espersen said she’s glad the RCMP is probing this concern.
“I can confirm that our Investigative Services is looking into complaints connected to the number of ostriches on the farm,” RCMP Staff-Sgt. Kris Clark said. “The investigation is in the early stages and no details will be provided to ensure the integrity or our investigative process.”
Rebel News reporter Drea Humphrey, who has been on the scene since the beginning, said the key now is to “keep demanding that the farm or their vet be permitted to do a count appropriately.”
Espersen is asking for that and to test the hens and roosters alike for Avian flu to see if expiring them is even necessary. But with This Hour Has 22 Minutes help, she and her beloved are merely something to make fun of.
Inside this compound the government took over from a family using the eggs as part of medical research, officials have constructed a hay bale area that protesters have called a “kill box” while outside there are disposal bins, tents, trailers and vehicles coming and going at all hours of day and night.
“We try to not look at people making fun of the birds they want to kill and focus on trying to save them,” Espersen said, fighting back tears.
She said anybody who has been on this ground does not find humour here.
“The birds look confused,” said Espersen. “They know something is wrong.”
It’s almost like these ostriches know they are on death row and that Mark Critch and the CBC find it hilarious.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
WARMINGTON: RCMP probes dwindling Ostrich numbers as CBC laughs at impending deaths
It’s almost like these ostriches know they are on death row and that Mark Critch and the CBC find that to be hilarious.
