The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says material submitted by a British Columbia ostrich farm to support another stay of an avian flu cull order for its flock is improper, because it asks the court to decide on a matter of science.

The lawyer for Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., had written to the Federal Court of Appeal on Wednesday seeking "retroactive" permission for having submitted the documents four hours late.

The CFIA says in response that it has no objections to the extension, but that doesn't mean it agrees the submissions are "admissible or material" to the request for another stay.

Its cites a new expert report for the farm by a University of B.C. professor that it says largely repeats opinions in other expert reports already deemed by the Federal Court to have "improperly" asked it to become an "arbiter of truth" on matters of immunology and public health.

Farm spokeswoman Katie Pasitney meanwhile says in a news release that the farm has "formally petitioned" the minister of agriculture to rescind the cull order.

The farm is fighting a cull of about 400 birds that was ordered by the CFIA on Dec. 31, over an avian flu outbreak that went on to kill 69 birds.

The CFIA says there are ongoing risks posed by the flock and the conditions in which they are kept, while the farmers say the birds are healthy and scientifically valuable, having acquired "herd immunity."

The farm's situation has drawn attention from opponents of government overreach and the U.S. administration of Donald Trump, whose Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has called for the birds to be spared and studied.

Supporters of the farm have been camping out at the property, staging music concerts and other events to draw attention to the case.

The farm has already lost hearings in Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal and says it wants another stay to prepare an application for the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its case.