B.C. ostrich meat farm owners hit with avian flu now claim to be animal lovers & scientists, raising $280K from online fundraisers & cryptocurrency

Long-time grifters, Edgewood farm owners defy CFIA rules and have now tricked anti-science conspiracy theorists and animal lovers into donating hundreds of thousands of dollars

Ostrich lives suddenly matter, apparently

As recently as May 14, 2025, less than five months ago, owners of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., were promoting their “vertical integrated business plan” to “launch government approved meat-processing and oil-rendering facilities to cater to the world demand for ostrich meat and contracts already established.”

A bold plan for an ostrich meat farm looking to capitalize on a less energy intensive, healthier meat alternative to beef.

Exhibit A:

The farm is “owned” by Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski (although even ownership might be in question since Bilinski has defaulted on at least one mortgage leveraged against the farm and filed for personal bankruptcy). 

Daughter Katie Pasitney has been the most active on social media fuelling the outrage and begging for money to help for their legal bills. As the most vocal participant in the farm’s activities, she’s the one who claimed the farm pivoted away from meat sales more than five years ago, so early or pre-2020, which is simply not true as can be seen from the website as of May 14, 2025. 

That and court filings in early 2025 that explicitly describe Universal Ostrich Farm’s operations as including “raising birds for slaughter and meat” as a core activity.

That internet archive grab from May 2025 was less than five months after birds on the farm tested positive for a highly virulent strain of H5N1, avian influenza, and a cull was ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in December 2024, a sad reality for hundreds of poultry farmers across British Columbia in recent years.

But then on May 25, 2025, just 11 days later, the archived web page for “universalostrich.ca” redirected to “saveourostriches.com,” posting a very different message. Suddenly owners Dave Bilinski and Karen Espersen were no longer looking for money to invest in their ostrich meat business, they were looking for money to save their “beloved ostriches.”

In the subsequent months, the page updated visitors on the thousands of dollars raised, and promoted a concert that includes far-right anti-science activist Tamara Lich who faces up to seven years in prison for her part in the trucker convoy that caused chaos in Ottawa.

Exhibit B:

Now ostrich lives matter?

Images on TikTok of Karen Espersen holding a large knife in a kitchen over large chunks of ostrich body parts, flesh and bone, are incongruous with her teary-eyed entreaties before TV cameras on the farm. 

Then there is a post from a Universal Ostrich Farm subsidiary with a logo that says “Bizarre Bites - Pets Gone Wild” on social media account (tagging Katie Pasitney bragging about how delicious the “ostrich knuckles” look as a treat for their dogs seen gnawing on the flesh and bones. 

It’s impossible to reconcile Karen and co-owner Dave Bilinski crying crocodile tears because of CFIA’s order to cull their birds claiming they are sometimes beloved pets, sometimes precious animals used in research, when this has been a meat farm and processing site for most of its history.

It’s all bullshit and so many people are falling for it, from trucker convoy anti-government ragers to Conservative politicians to animal rights activists. 

These people have farmed ostriches for meat for more than 25 years only recently scrubbing their social media of images of Karen with cutting boards full of meat in the kitchen, feeding bloody chunks to dogs, and creating slick promotions for investors to get in on their 2025 plans for the future regarding the ostrich meat industry in Canada and abroad.

With at least three online fundraisers already raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and not one but two crypto meme coins, if it’s not clear this was a swindle from the start, it’s clear this is now Grift 2.0, which we’ll come back to.

Same rules everyone follows

CFIA said on Friday that its policy “aims to protect both public and animal health, as well as minimize impacts on the $6.8 billion domestic poultry industry, and the Canadian economy.

“This supports Canadian families and poultry farmers whose livelihoods depend on maintaining international market access for $1.75 billion in exports.”

In doing so, they are following international standards set by the World Health Organization regarding avian flu outbreaks among commercial bird flocks.

It’s not complicated. If you are involved in poultry farming in British Columbia, Canada, any country in the world, follow the international standards enforced by your nation, and all is good.

People tricked by the grift have flocked to the farm, participated in music fundraisers, camped out and protested, assaulted at least one neighbour, allegedly lit hay bales on fire, threatened local businesses that were or they thought were contracted to help with CFIA’s work, and generally proven to be dysfunctional farmers, bad neighbours, and financial scammers.

“I think there’s general sympathy for the birds but not for the farm itself due to their inability to be forthright and honest from the get-go,” born-and-raised Edgewood resident Randy Donselaar said in an interview with Global TV.

I’ve personally communicated with both an animal rights activist who wants the animals saved so they can live out their lives, and to an anti-government convoy kind of guy opposed to CFIA’s cull. Both, however, pulled back the curtain just every so slightly as very few have to become shocked by the financial scams, blatant lies, and shameless grift of the owners of this farm.

Shifting from business plan to begging for handouts

With the business plan shifted from courting investors for ostrich meat-processing on the property to a fundraiser to stop the ostrich "murders," Universal Ostrich Farm owners currently have at least three GoFundMe-style fundraisers online, amassing more than $280,000, as well as at least two crypto-currency meme coins that have amassed more than $26,000.

There's $LULU and then now $BARN, both deposit into the same wallet, several people pointing out on Twitter that it's all a scam and always has been.

“Decades long scam artists creating 3+ go fund me’s, 2 crypto coins that siphon into the same wallet,” a Kenny P. posted on Twitter, succinctly explaining the whole story. “Took millions away from investors, and burnt all of the many they have taken over the years. Ran this as a meat farm since the beginning FYI. They Tried to wipe the info online.”

Decades long scam artists creating 3+ go fund me’s, 2 crypto coins that siphon into the same wallet. Took millions away from investors, and burnt all of the many they have taken over the years. Ran this as a meat farm since the beginning FYI. They Tried to wipe the info online.

— Kenny P (@goatKennyPowers) September 28, 2025

None of this takes into account e-transfers, cheques mailed, or cash handed to them.

In some ways it’s a clever money-making scheme for two reasons.

One, they are capitalizing on the raging anti-government, anti-science, fringe, convoy crowd to fundraise to “stop government over-reach,” which is a group easily susceptible to join anyone’s “fight against tyranny.”

Two, they are capitalizing on the animal rights crowd to “donate to save from CFIA murder!” and “save the herd.”

The Supreme Court of Canada did issue a stay of proceedings Sept. 24 that pauses the CFIA's Dec. 31, 2024 Notice to Dispose, while the court mulls the farm's application for leave to appeal a lower court decision allowing the cull to proceed.

On that decision, and on the latter point above regarding animal rights, a lawyer and executive director of Animal Justice said the decision was an “11th-hour lifeline.”

"The ruling sends an important signal that animals like the ostriches are individuals whose lives matter," Camille Labchuk said in a statement to CBC News.

Let’s unpack that statement a little:

1. To say that “ostriches are individuals,” goes beyond the legal definition of pets and farm animals as property. 

2. While they are legal property and not “individuals,” they are property with special consideration. As sentient beings, animals are subject to laws that protect them from abuse and cruelty, just as the case for dogs and parrots and turkeys and cows. So is “Ostrich Lives Matter” the next big social movement?

3. Given the undeniability of 1 & 2, to say that “ostriches are individuals” whose “lives matter,” doesn’t square well with videos on their website as recent as May 2025 bragging about their plans to ramp up processing of meat and oils on their farm.

None of the three owners of the farm replied to my questions about where the money was going that they are raising online.

-30-

Want to support independent journalism?
Consider becoming a paid subscriber or make a one-time donation so I can continue this work.

Paul J. Henderson
pauljhenderson@gmail.com
facebook.com/PaulJHendersonJournalist
instagram.com/wordsarehard_pjh
x.com/PeeJayAitch
wordsarehard-pjh.bsky.social