Ostrich farm owners connected to ‘particularly abusive’ investment scheme that bilked $20 million from widows & seniors

Even some ‘freedom fighters’ first hooked in by Universal Ostrich Farms’ public calls for support are finding out the truth about the Bilinskis’ ‘speculative, illiquid and highly risky’ securities slammed by B.C. Securities Commission

If it seems like there's something hinky about the owners of the Edgewood ostrich farm garnering international media attention for fighting against a cull of birds by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency because of an outbreak of avian influenza, there's good reason. 

The owners of Universal Ostrich Farms have helped created a circus of nutters camping out on the property, sharing anti-science “do-your-own-research” memes, conspiracy theories, threatening and bullying local businesses, and posting videos dripping with performative outrage weighing in much as anti-mandate, trucker convoy folks did a few years ago. 

And while farm owners Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski paint themselves as devoted farmers contributing to “groundbreaking research on the robust immune systems of these remarkable creatures,” this might be a subject where people donating money to support this fight might want to actually do their own research.

Some people who were early supporters are doing exactly that and sharing the unflattering reality about the history of the farm's owners.

Back in the late 1990s, Dave Bilinski turned to his cousin Danny Bilinski to help raise money for his Alberta ostrich farm. The two then created Columbia Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, the precursor to Universal Ostrich Farms.

Dan and Dave were directors of the ostrich farm, which they used via a venture capital firm to raise millions of dollars, ostensibly to expand the business. The problem? They exaggerated revenue potential to investors, hid Dave’s financial problems, which included three mortgages that were in default registered against the ostrich farm all while money poured in from people duped by the Bilinski boys. 

By 1998, the entire Columbia Ostrich Farm operation, including the buildings and birds, was at risk of being seized by creditors. That's when, yet again, “Dave Bilinski pressed his cousin to help him out,” according to findings from a scathing B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) decision from 2002.

The BCSC found that Danny Bilinski and his partner Robert Pierre Lamblin peddled high-risk investments, such as the ostrich farm, that were unsuitable to people with conservative investment strategies, including widows and elderly investors. The two pitched securities by claiming investors could minimize income tax, receive monthly income, and earn double-digit returns with little risk. 

Instead, almost 200 clients invested $20 million in a “particularly abusive” scheme and most lost it all. The BCSC also pointed out Bilinski and Lamblin violated rules because of conflicts of interest as they “were driven to promote and sell their own product. They had a vested interest to not make any other investments available” to their clients.

What is this really about?

On Wednesday, (Sept. 24, 2025), the Supreme Court of Canada issued an interim stay to the planned cull of 400 ostriches. The decision temporarily halts the killing of the birds by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) while owners appeal.

It’s a circus in the small rural community of Edgewood where neighbours are sick and tired, local businesses are being threatened with boycotts and violence, and the whole gong show is garnering global attention, including from Donald Trump administration health officials Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

For eight months, according to the far-right conspiracy theory media, shock and outrage was spread because of the imminent genocide of exotic ostriches with natural immunity, fake PCR tests, Moderna's $590 million grant to develop mRNA vaccines for bird flu, and claims that if "they" can do this, next thing you know, the government is coming for your pets.

On Christmas morning 2024, Espersen and Bilinski noticed signs of illness in the birds and called the veterinarian. By Dec. 30, 2024, the CFIA ordered 400 ostriches to be culled at the remote Inonoaklin Valley ranch. In all, 69 ostriches died from H5N1 between Dec. 26, 2024, and Jan. 19, 2025.

But some birds recovered and while this didn't change the cull plan as per standard public health policy, Espersen believes the rest have acquired herd immunity. The response from some of the fringiest folks in Alberta and B.C. was immediate and predictably bananas.

This many months later, even some of those fringe-y freedom fighters are finding out about the dodgy investment schemes connected to the farm's owner, and the potential for more financial impropriety.

“I went into this searching for truth to support the farmers, my heart was touched by the story and what I thought was government over-reach,” a former Universal Ostrich Farm supporter, Kazz Nowlin, posted on Facebook on Thursday (Sept. 25, 2025).

“What I found, and they do not mention, is disgusting.”

Nowlin is a self-described “freedom fighter,” a typical anti-Trudeau, anti-mandate, convoy supporter now calling the ostrich farm owners “proven scam artists” who are going to make right-wing liberty seekers such as him look bad.

“They ripped off people since the beginning,” Nowlin posted. “Go see why the locals all around them do not support them.... I supported this too, till I actually used my head and read the facts and compared it to the lies.”

Now Bilinski and Espersen are trying to raise money a different way, through sharing links to fundraising pages. Through their own website and elsewhere, people are entering credit card numbers and donating thousands of dollars to the ostrich farm owners. Former Member of Parliament, Conservative Derek Sloan has posted extensively on the subject, even creating a fundraising page through his website where people are urged to donate up to $2,500 to the ostrich farm owners. 

Asked where the donations are going, Sloan, Espersen, or farm operator Katie Pasitney who has been posting constantly about the fight, did not respond immediately. 

Meanwhile, the RCMP are responding to threats of burning down businesses that ostrich farm supporters think might be contracted by the CFIA as part of the cull. One hotel in Vernon said they are getting 50 to 60 harassing calls on every shift because the location is where RCMP officers are staying.

“Over the last couple days, we’ve seen that businesses who have contracts or have business with the CFIA operation have received a number of threats,” RCMP Staff. Sgt. Kris Clark told Global News on Thursday. “[T]hose opposed to the CFIA cull order have been using language to intimidate some businesses, and that intimidation has escalated now to some very serious threats, both against people, their livelihood, their life, a well as property.”

Beyond the nonsensical claims of a government conspiracy to control every aspect of people's lives, the truth is much more boring. Simply put, the CFIA’s policy in dealing with avian flu is to euthanize entire flocks and thoroughly disinfect the premises humanely.

“The CFIA response to highly pathogenic avian influenza . . . is based on an approach known as ‘stamping-out,’” as defined by the World Health Organization, according to the CFIA.

“While depopulation can be a distressing outcome for an animal owner, the CFIA works with poultry farmers to develop the most appropriate plan, see that it is completed humanely and to support producers in returning to operations as quickly as possible.”

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Paul J. Henderson
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