In the quiet landscape of the Ottawa Valley, Gerry Oleynik’s farm once stood as a sanctuary for the rare and the beautiful. Unlike industrial poultry operations, Oleynik curated a collection of exotic species including ornamental waterfowl, vibrant macaws, and elegant swans. These were not just any birds; they were rare and exotic personal pets raised by Gerry and his son.
The tragedy began with a heartbreaking realization on the farm, some of Oleynik’s birds were sick and dying. “I was picking up garbage bags full of bodies from different aviaries on the farm,” Oleynik recalls. “After a few days of having birds die, seeing them suffer, we called CFIA. It was the most difficult decision to make… but the right one to do. Birds were dying daily, I could not let them suffer like that.”
That sanctuary turned into a scene of carnage in October 2022. The CFIA tested his birds and declared the flock positive for bird flu; however, it is unclear how many of his birds were actually infected. “The problem lies in the fact that the CFIA put multiple samples per vial,” says Oleynik. “So it only takes one positive sample to declare avian flu.”
Oleynik initially believed that contacting the authorities would lead to a targeted solution. “Once you see the results of sick birds, culling is the only solution at that point. I’m certainly not saying to destroy the entire flock, only sick birds.”
A Scene of Devastation
The reality of the CFIA’s arrival was far different from what the family expected. “Their mandate is to destroy all birds on the premise,” Oleynik explains. “There has to be an alternative to this. Rare species will become extinct if this keeps going on worldwide.”
The aftermath of the intervention was nothing short of horrific. Reports and personal testimony describe a farm transformed into a slaughterhouse. Because of the size and variety of the birds, CFIA agents utilized bolt guns. When the Oleynik family was finally allowed back into their pens, they were met with a sight that continues to haunt them:
- Blood spattered across the walls and floors of the enclosures.
- Severed heads of birds and animals scattered throughout the farm.
- Wounded, live birds that had been missed by the agents, which the family had to euthanize themselves to end their suffering.
“That day, we lost well over 600 rare and exotic birds,” says Oleynik. “It changed my family’s life forever. We still have stress and PTSD because of this. It’s a wound that will never heal.”
The Illusion of Choice
The CFIA often frames its culling process as a cooperative effort, but for those in the thick of an outbreak, the “choice” is a hollow one. Oleynik described the ultimatum he faced: allow the CFIA to enter and destroy everything in exchange for compensation, or remain under a permanent quarantine where the birds might die slowly and the family would receive zero financial support.
“We didn’t really have a choice but to let them do the right thing and come in and do this. It broke our hearts. We’re still not over it.”
Oleynik laments the lost opportunity for scientific advancement that died along with his flock. “Certain species were very susceptible and others seemed resistant. We had a unique collection of species from around the world that they could have studied in hopes of finding a cure or prevention.”
The Massive Scale of the Cull
The Oleynik family’s story is a single, painful thread in a much larger tapestry of destruction. Since late 2021, the CFIA has overseen a massive campaign against avian flu:
| Metric | Estimated Impact |
| Total Birds Destroyed | Over 11 million |
| Outbreaks Recorded | More than 400 |
| CFIA Response Cost | Over $94 million |
| Mental Health Toll | Significant trauma for farmers |
Insufficient Compensation
While the CFIA provides compensation, farmers like Oleynik argue that the math does not add up. Payouts often fail to cover the true market value of rare species and do not account for the astronomical costs of mandatory disinfection protocols.
The tragedy at the Oleynik farm highlights why current protocols are under fire. When the “cure” involves bolt guns and lingering trauma, the system feels fundamentally broken. Today, the family is beginning to move forward, though the shadow of the past remains. “We have since started slowly getting back into aviculture,” Oleynik says. “The stress of avian influenza returning is on my mind daily.”
I’m so terribly sorry for your tremendous devastating loss. Sending healing strength and hugs
I am deeply saddened by this news
A horrific loss for you and your family
Please know that we have you in our thoughts and prayers and we stand with you
We are all family really and we need to stand united against the overreach of the government and the CFIA
This truly breaks my heart
I’m so so very sorry 😞💔and I wish with all of my heart that I could somehow take away your pain
You are not alone
God bless you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I am sickened by the actions of CFIA and their total disregard for the divine laws of nature, and their horrible inhumane treatment of both animals and humans.
I AM SO SORRY this happened to you, and deeply disturbed that it is unwitting tax dollars being used to fund this.
After the ostriches in BC… Canada is not Canada anymore to me!!! How can this be happening here???? How can we call ourselves humans???? I am beyond sorry this happened and that the world didn’t know it happened:( Big hugs to the family!!!! We need to stop this crap NOW!!!!
My condolences for having to endure an inhumane massacre like this. Thank you for sharing your story. It’s is disgusting, the unfettered power the cfia has. As a Canadian citizen I am just appalled. The ostrich farm woke me up to the corruption. Traumatized me too. I’d never even been there but followed the livestreams and I am left so deeply affected. I just cannot imagine your pain and of the many other whose stories we are learning. I am just so sorry this has happened to you, and to us however courage is contagious and the truth always comes out in the end. May peace be with your family.
I’m so sorry to hear of the cull which happened to your beautiful birds.
Farmers need and must stand together for power over this horrific CFIA! We need change and the sooner the better!
It is horrible that the Canadian food inspection agency thinks it owns Canada and all of the animals in it, just so that they can take any animals life because they think the animal is sick. It’s is Gods choice to give or take a life and CFIA is trying to play God when they clearly are not God. Cfia stop destroying Gods creation! It is NOT your job to do so. Cfia members need to go see a psychiatrist and find out why they are all so evil.
How awful, just like the ostriches the cruelty and corruption of the cfia is unhinged. I’m so sorry you all are going through this and I stand with you, together we can stop this evil
This is a good example of how the CFIA have no solution other than to destroy both animal and farmer and leave behind a destruction and mess that leave farmers traumatized forever.
This has to change as there is no amount of compensation that will ease the pain and horror of such an event. Thank you for coming forward with your experience so other people can learn that the CFIA is not the solution. We need to wake people up so they are not led into blind situations that become horror stories. I’ve been following what has happened with the ostriches and now exotic farm and have lost complete faith in how the CFIA operate. This is a sinister blood thirsty organization that needs to be restructured and accountable. So sorry about the loss of your beautiful birds. This should never have happened.
This is so sad your birds were beautiful. CFIA needs to be dismantled, they are just cruel heartless animal abusers. We must come to together and stop this now. I’m so sorry you were another victim in there horrible abuse of power.
This is a good example of how the CFIA have no solution other than to destroy both animal and farmer and leave behind a destruction and mess that leave farmers traumatized forever.
This has to change as there is no amount of compensation that will ease the pain and horror of such an event. Thank you for coming forward with your experience so other people can learn that the CFIA is not the solution. We need to wake people up so they are not led into blind situations that become horror stories. I’ve been following what has happened with the ostriches and now exotic farm and have lost complete faith in how the CFIA operate. This is a sinister blood thirsty organization that needs to be restructured and accountable. So sorry about the loss of your beautiful birds. This should never have happened.
I cant begin to describe how disturbing this is. I believe the CFIA are the biggest animal abusers in Canada’s history.
The absolute disregard. or empathy. Can only be described as psychopathic.
Bio Hazard cleanup? none. Leaving the cleanup somewhat like a punishment or power play to say they can and will do what they want.
I am so very sorry to your farm and family along with a farms that have suffered under their regiment.
I pray for real change or masses of Canadians taking to the streets against this unbelievable amount animal abuse going on.
So sorry to hear about your devastating loss of your precious birds! I e only become aware of what CFIA is doing since the famous BC ostrich cull, and I’m sure that if nothing else, the ostrich farm fiasco made many people aware of the atrocities committed by CFIA.. And, it’s NOT for our health! That ostrich cull alone cost us, the taxpayers, many, many millions of dollars! And they do not adequately compensate the farmers even if they promise to. They want to kill to create food shortages – it’s not just birds they slaughter for avian flu – and they have the perfect excuse with a never ending avian flu to scare people with. Never ending because wild birds fly over us everywhere and CFIA won’t allow natural herd immunity won’t be allowed to develop from the strong survivors..
My heart goes out to you and your family. The Osteriches in BC opened my eyes to the unnecessary brutality of the CFIA. To murder healthy Ostriches that were symptom free for over 280 days that the CFIA refused to test. Sometimes when I see a post of the beautiful dancing birds the tears stream down my face. I couldn’t even image what all the farmers go through with such a violent loss of life which are considered family. This is government overreach that takes no responsibility or transparency for their actions and takes nothing from Science for a new positive approach. Avian flu comes from migrating birds so little control. Slaughtering everything including the healthy doesn’t stop anything. Time for large changes in Canada! Farmers need to stick together and the public needs to stand up and support our farmers.
I am just appalled at how the CFIA feels the stamp out policy is the right way.
I am only aware of them because of the mass killing of the ostriches. I wasn’t even close to the area and yet I feel like I have PTSD from the whole situation. If I feel this way, I can only imagine how you are your family feel having actually lived through this!! I am so very sorry. You essentially lost your lives that same day.
I raise turkeys, geese, chickens and ducks. They free range. I will never call upon any govt agency knowing what would become of us.
This is a heart breaking story. Cfia doesnt seem to have any respect or compassion for farmers. Things need to change!
I’m so sorry that this happened to you and your family!! I watched the ostrich fiasco and was horrified by what happened and how the RCMP turned a blind eye. The suffering of those birds will haunt me until the day I die. I can only imagine the PTSD and issues you and your family have had to deal with. The CFIA is a disgrace! And the so called leaders in our government are criminals!!!
This is beyond horrific over reach by CFIA and the ones above them. This is depopulation of all food sources, to starve the people out at its finest. If you the people don’t think it’s going to affect you. It is already affecting you. Look at the food they are feeding the elderly. Look at the food they are putting on the store shelves. Why would they build multiple million dollar bug factories? We the people have to open our eyes and ears to what’s happening in our communities, provinces and country. Unite and stand up for what we have left and the future of our generations to come. As they are depleting quickly.
The CFIA is a rogue organization that is no longer serving farmers or Canadians in general. So sorry for your loss!
This is so heartbreaking for this family. CFIA needs to be investigated, held accountable for these killings. If a bird/ animal is sick the whole herd/ flock doesn’t need to be killed. And the way this agency kills these animals is traumatic and disgusting.
It’s sad what the government is allowing this agency to get away with. Ot needs stopped. I fear for every animal sanctuary in Canada
I’m so sorry to hear about this tragedy at your farm. Sending love and peace to your family! The is no way we as Canadians can continue to let the CFIA operate the way they do! There is no oversight over how they handle these situations yet it is all paid for with taxpayers money! Something has to change!
This breaks my heart and makes my stomach sick. I am so sorry for your loss. We need to do something about this unaccountable, seemingly untouchable evil , corrupt corporation that is run by entities not even from Canada – the UN.
My heart aches for the utter brutality that CFIA inflicted on the beautiful birds and the horror the family will live with for the rest of their lives. CFIA cares not for anything any I mean anything including the premise of the the cull. They care for the power that they seek and the joy of the kill 💔💔
I’m so sorry to the family for what they lived through ♥️
My heart aches for the utter brutality that CFIA inflicted on the beautiful birds and the horror the family will live with for the rest of their lives. CFIA cares not for anything any I mean anything including the premise of the the cull. They care for the power that they seek and the joy of the kill 💔💔
I’m so sorry to the family for what they lived through ♥️
My heart is absolutely shattered reading about what happened to Gerry Oleynik and his family in. Beautiful exotic birds, macaws, swans, ornamental waterfowl, that were cherished pets, not commercial livestock, violently destroyed with bolt guns by the CFIA in October 2022. The images of blood-spattered aviaries, severed heads, and wounded birds the family had to finish euthanizing themselves are horrific and inhumane beyond words.
This wasn’t just a cull; it was a devastating, traumatic massacre that has left lasting PTSD for an innocent family who did the right thing by reporting sick birds. There has to be a better way! alternatives for rare species, selective testing, or actual compassion, instead of this rigid, one-size-fits-all policy that risks wiping out unique birds forever.
I’m absolutely pissed at the lack of nuance, the brutality, and the inadequate support afterward. My deepest sympathies to Gerry and his loved ones, this wound should never have happened, and it will never fully heal. We need change now to prevent more families and animals from suffering like this.
Sending all my heartbreak and solidarity. 💔🕊️
I am so sorry for your loss and so sad that it has taken so long for this to come to light that the CFIA has been running rogue for so long. They should be there to help farmers, proper testing and not culling everything including the healthy. I hope all farmers stand together to push the change that is needed.
The CFIA are an evil organization. It’s too bad that the majority of these brutal cullings by this rogue organization is not publicized by legacy media. But of course they too work for the government. I’m heartbroken to learn of this culling. My deepest sympathies go out to this family that experienced this loss.
I am continuously sickened by the CFIAs murderous approach to any disease in 2026. We are an advanced society and we have the means to scientifically study birds and their potential resistance to avian flu. To all farmers on this site I am going forward with my own personal campaign against the CFIA stamp out policy. It is not following their own policies nor is it acceptable practice in 2026. Stop the draconian slaughter of innocent perhaps scientifically valuable animals and birds. Canada can do better than this. And we owe it to you our farmers!
Disgusting actions by the CFIA.
So sorry this happened to you.
I am so sorry for the loss of these beautiful animals by the barbaric forces of the CFIA.
I pray that you are able to heal and overcome this horrific trauma.
CFIA are guilty of neglect, torture and murder
Nothing they do is humane
This has got to stop. Its just evil to its core. I’m sorry you are going through all of it first hand. I pray we all stand up and make things right.
I am sorry for you loss. I can only imagine what your family must have gone through. I agree that sick birds need to be put out of their suffering. What I do not understand is why, if you chose not to have them kill the entire flock, that they would put the farm under “permanent quarantine”? What does that even mean? At some point the surviving birds could have received a clean bill of health and life could have gone on. This is where I do not agree with the CFIA. Animals do beat viruses, just as humans do. It is as if they take the “quick” way out. They approach farmers that have never had to go through this before. They use the confusion, strong arm tactics and monetary offers to just to get it done and get out of there……at a huge expense to the animals and the farmers.
I’m so sorry this happened to your family and farm. The CFIA is overstepping their bounds, without proper testing they are culling entire farms. Using a bolt action rifle to kill birds is inhumane! They are allowed to destroy but not clean up their mess, leaving the family to deal with it and the PTSD it causes. I am disgusted by the CFIA!!
Thank you for stepping up to inform us. You have alot of support, we the people are behind you!
I’m so sorry this happened to your family and farm. The CFIA is overstepping their bounds, without proper testing they are culling entire farms. Using a bolt action rifle to kill birds is inhumane! They are allowed to destroy but not clean up their mess, leaving the family to deal with it and the PTSD it causes. I am disgusted by the CFIA!!
Thank you for stepping up to inform us. You have alot of support, we the people are behind you!