A Victoria mother took to Facebook, warning other parents about the toys at Value Village after her son ingested a needle that fell out of a toy purchased earlier in the day.
The writer, Chloe North says she wanted to send a warning to others.
The post starts out with “WARNING PLEASE EVERYONE.”
Chloe tells Victoria Buzz they just bought their 8-month-old a Little Tikes piano from Value Village in downtown Victoria.
When they returned home, Chloe wiped the toy down and gave it to her son to play with while she cooked lunch.
Moments later, her son began to scream. When Chloe went to check on her son, she saw he had some blood coming from his mouth.
“We just bought a little tykes piano from value village got home wiped it down and gave it to Riley to play with while I cooked lunch. Well the poor boy started to scream, so I poked my head in to check up on him, and he had some blood coming out of his mouth,” Chloe wrote in her Facebook post warning.
As Chloe investigated further, she discovered her son had the tip of a needle in his mouth. She then noticed more needles and nails were scattered around – believed to be coming out of the back of the toy.
“I ran to investigate, and he had a needle head in his mouth. I then look around me and there [needles] all over my floor. They are coming out of the back of the piano.”
As of writing this article, Chloe is still at the hospital with her 8-month-old son. Doctors have completed one x-ray and have found an object in his stomach – believed to be a needle tip.
They’re now awaiting a second x-ray to confirm the object.
Chloe contacted Value Village to inform them of what had transpired and claims the employee who took her call said, “this wasn’t the first incident this week, needles were also found in stuffed animals.”
“So here we are at Victoria General Hospital waiting on test and x-rays, I called Value Village to report what just happened, but this is what gets my blood boiling, they said this isn’t the first time it’s happened this week.”
“Apparently they found needles in the stuffies! Why would they still have the children toys out still – I’m so angry! Please please don’t buy toys from there, they are not taking this seriously. They said I could return the toy,” the Facebook posted ended.
We reached out to Value Village, and the sales manager on duty tells us the toys are inspected when they come in, and the claims of other needles being found through the week were unfounded. She then asked that we speak with the regional media rep for further information.
Chloe just wants to warn other parents about what happened and hopes Value Village will take a closer look at their toys, take them all down and inspect them better, she says.
A file has been opened with the Victoria Police Department, and they are investigating the matter.
