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The farm's loudest advocate south of the border is New York City billionaire and Republican megadonor John Catsimatidis, a self-described animal lover who on Thursday called for a "thorough investigation" into the saga. He suggested that the US Department of Justice should take up the probe if Canada refuses. Mr Catsimatidis' involvement dates back to early May, when Ms Pasitney called into a radio show hosted by him to plead their case. "The Canadian government wants our farm killed off of two tests," she told him, "even though they are fully healthy and doing amazingly well." Moved by the birds' plight, the billionaire enlisted figures in the Trump administration to take up the cause. Later that May, Kennedy met with Canadian officials to try to stop the cull. He pitched a collaboration on a long-term study of the ostriches to see if they had developed immunity to the avian flu. "There is significant value in studying this population," Kennedy later wrote in a letter to Canadian officials, instead of the "indiscriminate" killing of the flock. Dr Oz offered to relocate the ostriches to his Florida estate, though the farm owners refused. "We want to keep this in Canada," Ms Pasitney told the CBC at the time. But just a few days after the meeting with Kennedy, officials told the Canadian Press they would still go ahead with the "humane depopulation" of the flock. In July, Kennedy, Dr Oz and Mr Catsimatidis took the matter to the very top, pleading with Prime Minister Carney to make a "joint public statement" in support of the farm with them. Carney has not spoken publicly about the issue. His justice minister Sean Fraser did speak on Thursday, however, telling reporters that he is "pleased to see" the top court's dismissal of the case. "It's important that the minister of agriculture and CFIA are able to protect the health of the general Canadian public and the food we consume," Fraser said.
