PITT MEADOWS, B.C. — A father in Pitt Meadows, B.C., says the last thing his family expected to find inside a second-hand board game was a syringe and toxic glue.
Mitch Selman says his six-year-old son Angus and two friends opened the game of Mouse Trap after his wife, Paula McMurray, brought it home from a local Value Village thrift shop on Sunday.
He says the boy recognized the danger as soon as he pulled the cap off the syringe, so he put the cap back on and took it to show his mother.
McMurray, who Selman says is a nursing student, examined the kids carefully and determined quickly that none had been harmed.
Selman says he understands that parents should probably check second-hand toys and games, but adds that it was irresponsible of Value Village not to inspect its own product before putting it on a shelf and placing consumers at risk.
Value Village did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"You expect maybe there's going to be some pieces missing, but you don't expect two tubes of sniffing glue and a hypodermic needle. How that would have gotten through any kind of screening process is beyond me," Selman says.
"The products they put on their shelves need to safe, period."