Poison ivy, Publicity, and Ostriches

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We were greeted by ostrich owner Sue Oliver. Sue grew up in Syracuse, New York, while her husband Bret was raised in Alberta. Ten-year-old Amanda was in Mrs. Stringer's class and her brother Logan was seven. Residents in the Shuswap community for less than one year, they had brought the birds with them. Prior to the move, they had lived in Revelstoke for eleven years. Sue had worked as production manager for the award-winning Revelstoke Times, a newspaper that she had also started. Bret, originally a bus driver, had been employed by the Revelstoke Dam until an auto accident left him partially disabled. Selling off part of the paper, the family bought an acreage in Sicamous and Sue commuted forty-five minutes to work in Revelstoke. But growing within her was the desire to spend more time on the farm. This longing became their move to Shuswap Lake.

Petite and slim, with debonair silver hair and sapphire eyes, Sue led us down a tiny fir—and cedar—hugged trail and across a footbridge traversing a creek to the pens.

REAL MOVERSThough flightless, the ostrich can accelerate to 30 mph in seconds.

Gazing over the fences at us were five of the world's largest birds. An average ostrich will stand seven to nine feet tall and weigh 300 to 350 pounds. Oliver's tallest topped eight feet. Half of their height was taken up by their rubberlike necks—stems that balanced the brilliance of large brown eyes framed by luxurious lashes, that bloomed with curiosity and never seemed to get their fill of looking. They are, in fact, capable of seeing seven miles. The only two-toed bird in the world, the children gasped with wonder when Sue told them that ostriches have strode the planet for the past fifty million years. We learned that if threatened, the ostrich, whose life span can be seventy or eighty years, does not bury its head in the sand as is popularly believed. Instead, it may strike out with its two clawed toes: a full grown male is capable of disemboweling a lion in the wild. Even so, as Sue explained, "If ostriches weren't farmed they would probably be extinct by now. About half the babies born in the wild are taken by other animals."

Although flightless, the ostrich is capable of taking twelve-foot strides and running at a speed of thirty miles per hour for fifteen minutes. In short bursts it may reach forty-three miles per hour, accelerating in a couple of seconds.

"I tend to like the females better;" Sue said, willing to admit her bias. "They're quieter and they'll just watch you pick up their eggs and walk away with them. I won't go in the pens with the males, especially during breeding season. They can cover ground rapidly, and just because they are on the other side of the pen doesn't mean they aren't going to be beside you pronto."

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