as if you needed another reason not to shop wally mart

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No hostages, only birds at Wards Road Wal-Mart

 

 

By Bryan Gentry

 

Published: April 15, 2008

 

Lynchburg police thought a hostage situation may have been afoot when

they set up a barricade outside the Wal-Mart on Wards Road Tuesday

morning.

 

A customer had noticed the 24-hour-a-day store was locked, and had

seen a person inside with a gun.

 

There were no hostages, however. Instead, an exterminator with an air

rifle was helping reclaim a store that had gone to the birds.

 

“Wal-Mart had hired someone to go in there and take care of that bird

problem,†said Lt. T.B. Lawton with the Lynchburg Police Department.

 

The small birds had been in the store for several weeks and prompted

concern from some customers and the Lynchburg Health Department.

 

The store was closed for a couple of hours Tuesday while the

exterminators worked.

 

But police didn’t get word of the plan, Lawton said.

 

Around 5 a.m. a customer came to the door of the Wal-Mart and realized

it was closed, Lawton said.

 

Seeing someone inside with what looked like a rifle, “she of course

immediately called us,†Lawton said.

 

“We set up as though there was a hostage situation,†he said. Police

blocked the entrances to the parking lot for at least an hour.

 

When police contacted employees inside the store and learned what was

really going on, they packed up and left.

 

Lawton was not on duty during the suspected hostage situation, and the

police report he read did not list the time the barricade ended.

 

Steven Simpson, environmental health manager at the Lynchburg Health

Department, said Tuesday he had talked to the Wal-Mart manager to

confirm that the birds were out of the store.

 

“Hopefully that chapter’s closed,†he said.

 

Last week, Simpson had said that he was aware of the birds in the

store. He said that it was “disturbing†to think of the birds being so

close to food.

 

But he said it can be hard to keep birds from getting into the store,

and hard to get rid of them once they’re inside. “They’re quick,†he

said.

 

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jamie Lamontagne said in an e-mail, “Our doors

are opened frequently and sometimes a bird might happen to fly in.â€

 

“Wal-Mart strives to comply with all rules and regulations regarding

animal treatment and will attempt to humanely shoo the birds back out

the doors,†she said. “When necessary, we call the appropriate experts

to assist in removing birds from our stores.â€

 

Lamontagne did not say which pest control company did the

extermination.

 

 

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure

that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain