What if the key to preventing the next global pandemic was discovered on an ostrich farm in a remote town in British Columbia, but the federal government ordered all its birds dead?

That was the message that made national and international headlines last year when Universal Ostrich Farms launched a 10-month legal battle and social media campaign to stop a government-ordered cull in response to an avian flu outbreak on the farm.

However, a months-long fifth estate investigation reveals the campaign by Universal Ostrich Farms to save its ostriches was built on a foundation of exaggerated and false claims about their birds, business and scientific findings.

Angela Rasmussen, an avian flu virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, reviewed journalists' findings and dismissed claims the farm was engaged in any groundbreaking research.

"I think calling it scientific work is quite generous," she told fifth estate co-host Mark Kelley. "I call it a scam."