HALIFAX - They suck your blood and make you itchy and turn the faces of Canada Winter Games officials beet red.
Bedbugs have returned to a Tim Hortons summer camp in Tatamagouche, N.S., forcing organizers to move 85 athletes and coaches into Halifax on Sunday.
Games CEO Chris Morrissey said the bedbugs were found in an unused dorm at the camp in northeastern Nova Scotia, about a 90-minute drive from Halifax.
The camp was being used as lodging by freestyle skiers and coaches competing this week at Ski Wentworth.
He said the athletes from eight provinces and territories were staying in other "pods" at the camp and were not affected by the outbreak in the unused dorm.
"No evidence of bedbugs were found where the athletes were staying," Morrissey said at a news conference in Halifax.
He said the athletes were moved to a military base in Halifax as a precaution and will stay there for the duration of the Games. "We want all athletes to be comfortable and focused on their competition."
Bedbugs were found in the camp in the weeks leading up to the Games, but organizers were confident that a combination of steam cleaning followed by opening the dorms to the freezing cold had eradicated them.
Morrissey said the dorms were being inspected twice a day for any sign of a return "and there was evidence of bedbugs today."
Tim Hortons opened the camp overlooking the Northumberland Strait in 1988 and thousands of children from economically disadvantaged homes have vacationed there over the years
When asked if the bedbug outbreak was embarrassing for the Games, Morissey replied: "It's unfortunate that this situation has happened."
