'A horror house': Port Union woman takes matters into own hands after bat infestation

A Port Union woman says her comfortable home became a "horror house" after bats moved into the attic, and she had to get rid of the nocturnal pests herself because she couldn't afford to pay an exterminator.

Barb Humby discovered the bats in mid-July after she returned home from working at the Bull Arm construction site in Trinity Bay.

"I was hearing noises. First, I thought it might be just siding cracking and that but then after I heard noises up in my attic so I figured it was a squirrel," she told CBC's On the Go on Friday.

Humby called her brother, who went up with a flashlight.

"Next thing I heard him screaming, and with that I looked. I seen the bats at him," she said. "They just come right at his head and that, so he was swinging, trying to bat them away from him, and he had a little accident trying to get down."

Humby said her brother hit his head trying to get away. "It was a very scary situation."

Humby started making phone calls. The community health office told her bat droppings could be dangerous to her health. And the smell was really bad.

But to her surprise, she was told she needed a permit from the wildlife division of the provincial government, something she said was issued reluctantly on July 26 after her MHA got involved.

"They didn't want to remove the bats in case they were having babies, and they didn't want to disturb the babies," said Humby, who by now had moved out of her home.

"They were more concerned about the bats than about my life"

Big bucks for exterminator

There was more startling news. When Humby finally reached a pest control operator in Clarenville, she was flabbergasted.

"He said in order for him to come in my home and remove the bats, it would cost me anywhere between $12,000 and $15,000 and his crew would have to be set up in a hotel for three nights."

Another contractor would have to replace her insulation and siding, for a total expense of up to $25,000, and her insurance company told her there was no coverage to be had for a bat infestation.

One exterminator who actually took a look in her attic said there were at least a couple dozen bats living in there.

"I sat down and had a cry," said Humby, who has worked only two months in the past year. But she didn't give up. She decided to do it herself.

Humby knew the bats were on the move from dusk to dawn, so she watched them from her car and saw how they flew out the back of her house.

"Every evening I used to get up and let the bats out, and then once they were out, I plugged the hole. I was at that, well, ever since the 27th or 28th [of July]."

At the end of July, she moved back into her home, praying the bats were all gone.

Wearing a white suit, glasses, and gloves she went up into the attic and started stripping out insulation — 28 bags full.

"It's coming together, but It's stressful, and it's a lot of hard work. I'm really tired, but I just couldn't get them to come in for that money."

On August 5, Humby was still cleaning, and spraying, trying to keep the smell down. She joked she "might go into this business."

But it's no laughing matter.

"It's been a nightmare. My home went from being a comfortable home to being a horror house," she said.

"I think every sound I hears from now on, I'll go 'oh my God, I hope they're not back."