01/31/2003

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

Outside her rented townhome, Norma King talks to animal control officers about her problem, and why she moved out. Thursday night King and her friend Jamie Adams took 11 News on a tour of her home, which included bat feces oozing from behind the crown molding. And at dusk, an 11 News crew captured the bats leaving for the night's feeding.

King said she complained to the landlord but nothing was done.

"I placed a ladder up here and pulled it back, and I would say about pound, a pound of bat guano fell down over my head and all over my body," says Adams.

King believe hundreds of bats have been living with her behind her walls.

Friday, Houston City Councilman Michael Berry met with King and others to take a tour of the home.

Once outside, they all noticed the landlord had caulked the gap between the bricks where the bats had come out the day before. But animal control feels the bats are still in the walls.

"This is a very serious problem that no one should be subjected to," says Berry.

"Unfortunately we as a city are not allowed to deal with bats. You have to have a federally licensed bat excluder ... you can't kill bats," says Berry. "So that will have to be done by the landlord. What we want to do is let the neighbors know we have a serious problem."