The doors of Bavarian Meat Products have been closed since October 2021. The owners left behind hooks, freezers and shelves full of meat, which has attracted swarms of flies and created a stench that wafts through the neighborhood. David Ladouceur, owner of Winmar Property Restoration, said his team was hired by the property owners to clean up the mess and had already moved tons of meat. He likened the whole thing to filling about seven 20-cubic-yard garbage cans. “I’m sure people out there have had a freezer that died on them and the contents of that freezer have gone bad,” Ladoucer said. “Then you get an idea of what it’s like – the smells that come across it, the way things start to look after a certain period of time. “That alone is 14,000 square feet.”
Prepared
Ladouceur’s crew donned full personal protective equipment (PPE) for the operation — Tyvek suits, chemical-resistant rubber boots, nitrile gloves under engineering gloves, all fully taped. Crews also wear full-face respirators that block 99 percent of the odor, Ladouceur said. “They’re prepared, but they’re not wearing suits that keep them cool by any stretch of the imagination.” The property owners who hired Winmar — land records link her to 2471859 Ontario Inc., a numbered corporation from Oakville, Ont. — were eventually pressured by city hall to remove the meat after neighbors complained about the hordes of flies that also began invading a nearby body shop. CBC Sudbury is trying to locate the property owners. It is not immediately known why the butcher shop was abandoned. No one wanted this project. But I reminded my team — we clean up floods, we clean up sewage, we clean up mold, we go into fires, we’ve done wound cleaning, we’ve done cleaning for COVID.- David Ladouceur of Winmar Property Restoration on spoiled- meat cleaning Ladouceur said his crew had to work with a pest removal company to get rid of the swarm, a process that took a few hours. After the site was cleared of insects, workers were able to cut a walking path through the facility. “No one wanted this project,” Ladouceur said. “But I reminded my team — we clean up floods, we clean up sewage, we clean up mold, we go into fires, we’ve done wound cleanup, we’ve done COVID cleanup.” And I just said to the team, “This is something that no one in town wants to do, but it has to be done.” Ladouceur said the crews – who worked day shifts in blistering heat – all returned in good spirits. “They were joking, laughing. I mean, they hit it off right away,” he said. “They just go through it like troopers. And I mean, give them all the credit. They have shown no sign of negativity, and are full of momentum. “And you know what? When we’re done, we’re done.”
City Hall is involved
North Bay Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch said she and her father, Coun. Bill Vrebosh worked every day for three weeks bridging the gap between frustrated neighbors and an out-of-town landlord. “We couldn’t find any way inside because the city has no jurisdiction inside the building,” he said. “We tried to go in under property standards or bylaw. But we didn’t have jurisdiction to go into a building where there wasn’t a building code violation.” Finally, when diplomacy appeared to fail, the deputy mayor said she felt compelled to “embarrass” the property owners by involving the local media. “It’s a step where we did everything we could to get in touch with the owners, but we got nowhere,” he said. Tanya Vrebosch, deputy mayor for North Bay, says she and others at city hall have dealt with complaints from people around the butcher shop that housed the tainted meat. (Submitted by the Liberal Party of Ontario) “So now, the building is up for sale. And we said it’s time to make history now. We’ve done everything we can. We can’t find a way to clean it up legally. “Now it’s time to shame the owner into saying, ‘You know what? This is what you do to the neighborhood and the business owners. It’s time to clean it up.” Bill Vrebosch said it’s an example of how municipalities can sometimes be hamstrung by restrictive laws. “This is an absentee landlord,” he said. “I mean, it shows you there’s no local control.” Vrebosch, whose wife once owned Gravelle’s Butcher Shop, another large North Bay store, said the building’s new owner should bear some responsibility for what’s inside. “The day he decided to put the lock… [he] he should have given the meat to someone, even given it to a soup kitchen or to help a family situation. “But they let it go to waste.”
To the dump
Ed Francouer, superintendent of the North Bay landfill, confirmed that the spoiled meat is destined for the site, where it will be processed and covered. He estimated the cargo to weigh about eight tons, with more expected to arrive in the coming days. “You could smell it before it got here,” Francouer said. “And it flies, everywhere.” Transport crews drove in pressurized cabs and wore PPE to keep the stench at bay, he added.
