awww. i love bats. they're so cool and they're the only flying mammal

There was a bat hanging on the brick wall right by the entranceway where I come into to work in the morning. I wasn't sure if it was sleeping or dead, so I left it alone. When I came into the same door to work this morning, the poor thing was laying on the ground dead. He kind of looked like this little fella:

Awwww. Poor lil guy probably had rabies. They don't usually come close to high-traffic human areas, but when they do it usually means they have rabies and are trying to find a safe spot to die quietly. There was one on my balcony a while ago. It was there for about a week...finally one day my mom poked it with a stick and it fell off the wall dead. He was a little cute one too. Poor bats.

psychodelicide said:

aww I love Bats! that's sad...

XxAxX said:

You're right, they are the only flying mammal. I never stopped to even think about that.

psychodelicide said:

Flying Squirrel!

PREDOMINANT said:

They don't fly though...they glide.

FruitToAttractBears said:

Flying Fox!

PREDOMINANT said:

How did you not see the batwings on that?

FruitToAttractBears said:

Rabies is a scary thing, I'm glad I didn't touch that little guy. I was tempted to poke it to see if it would move, but didn't.

Okay, the latest on my bat story: I went out to lunch today and noticed that the poor little thing was still laying on the ground, so I figured that I would pick it up with a heavy, small towel to probably discard of it. When I bent down with the towel to pick it up, it moved!!! So the poor thing is still alive, which makes me feel bad for it, because I know it's sick and/or suffering. Not sure what to do at this point, whether I should call someone to remove it, or just let nature take its course. Can't believe that I care this much about a bat, but I feel sorry for it laying on the cold, wet ground.

psychodelicide said:

Ok, again...don't touch it. You could gently sweep it into a corner out of the way of curious hands and see if it moves on tonight. Like I said earlier, they are going into hibernation around this time and they can be quite lethargic.

If it doesn't and you have a wildlife center in your area, call them to see if they take in bats and they can advise you about what to do from here.

The other thing you should remember is it that a (possible) rabid bat is considered a health hazard. You could call animal control to see if they can tell you who to call when you find a suspected rabid bat. In Canada it's Health Canada that comes and picks them up for euthanasia and testing, but I don't know what it would be in the US.

PREDOMINANT said:

They don't fly though...they glide.

<===== That's all I have to say

Stamp on it

Okay, I got a call back from the "bat expert". He told me that what probably happened was that the bat, while migrating, got caught in the cold and rain (we've been having bad weather here lately). What he told me to do was to pick the bat up with gloves and to put it in the highest spot possible, like in a tree or something. He said that the bat would probably not continue to migrate until the weather warmed up a bit. BUT, I've decided that I'm not going to do that, for fear of being bitten. Check out the article I just found on the internet:


Saturday, July 26, 2003
Rabid bats increasing in Ohio
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - More bats with rabies are being found in the summer this year, the state health department said.

The department is not sure of the reason for the increase, but spokesman Kristopher Weiss said one theory is that more bats are being trapped and tested, resulting in more findings.

Twenty bats have tested positive for rabies so far this year, compared with only 13 to 15 rabid bats at this time in recent years.

About half of the 20 bats confirmed to have rabies have been found in four counties in northeast Ohio. Medina has had three rabid bats, while Summit and Trumbull had two each and Mahoning had one.

Hamilton County in southwest Ohio also has had three rabid bats, and the rest were single cases scattered throughout the state.

"Typically, we see rabid bats in August and September," Weiss said.

Debbie Nofzinger, a bat expert with the Wood County Park District in northwest Ohio, said she suspects more rabid bats are being found because more people are encountering them.

"The population of people is starting to spread out more and taking over areas where these bats inhabit, so they're easier to come across," Nofzinger said. "The places that used to be wild are turning into housing developments."

Only 0.5 percent of bats have rabies, she added. Bats become more active in July and August, and Nofzinger said they begin migrating at the end of August.

"There might be a greater influx of bats into the area then," she said.

Rabies, a brain disease caused by a virus in the saliva of an infected animal and transmitted by bites, is nearly always curable if treated soon enough but almost always fatal if not.

Weiss said Ohio's rabid bats are most likely big brown bats or little brown bats, although the department does not specifically identify the species.

People should not be alarmed, Weiss said.

"If you see a bat that is active during the day, or you see it on the lawn or in a room and it is approachable, it is probably sick," Weiss said. "You should stay away from it."

People who capture a bat should wear gloves and avoid direct skin contact. They should also avoid damaging the bat's head or drowning to prevent ruining officials' ability to test for rabies. After capture, the local health department should be called immediately, Weiss said.


Granted, this article was written 3 years ago, but I'm sure it still holds true, since I live in the Cleveland, Ohio area, and the bat that I found is a little brown bat, one that the article states as having the highest incidents of being rabid. I'm going to take Erin's excellent advice, and just leave the bat alone. I don't think it's worth getting bitten with the possibility of getting rabies. I'm hoping that the weather warms up, so the little bat can continue migrating to where it wants to go. I feel bad just leaving it there, but it just seems too risky. The situations I get myself into!
[Edited 9/20/06 13:25pm]

Spookymuffin said:

Never!

FruitToAttractBears said:

Flying Fox!

PREDOMINANT said:

The Flying Fox IS a bat!

psychodelicide said:

Flying Squirrel!

Okay, I got a call back from the "bat expert". He told me that what probably happened was that the bat, while migrating, got caught in the cold and rain (we've been having bad weather here lately). What he told me to do was to pick the bat up with gloves and to put it in the highest spot possible, like in a tree or something. He said that the bat would probably not continue to migrate until the weather warmed up a bit. BUT, I've decided that I'm not going to do that, for fear of being bitten. Check out the article I just found on the internet:


Saturday, July 26, 2003
Rabid bats increasing in Ohio
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - More bats with rabies are being found in the summer this year, the state health department said.

The department is not sure of the reason for the increase, but spokesman Kristopher Weiss said one theory is that more bats are being trapped and tested, resulting in more findings.

Twenty bats have tested positive for rabies so far this year, compared with only 13 to 15 rabid bats at this time in recent years.

About half of the 20 bats confirmed to have rabies have been found in four counties in northeast Ohio. Medina has had three rabid bats, while Summit and Trumbull had two each and Mahoning had one.

Hamilton County in southwest Ohio also has had three rabid bats, and the rest were single cases scattered throughout the state.

"Typically, we see rabid bats in August and September," Weiss said.

Debbie Nofzinger, a bat expert with the Wood County Park District in northwest Ohio, said she suspects more rabid bats are being found because more people are encountering them.

"The population of people is starting to spread out more and taking over areas where these bats inhabit, so they're easier to come across," Nofzinger said. "The places that used to be wild are turning into housing developments."

Only 0.5 percent of bats have rabies, she added. Bats become more active in July and August, and Nofzinger said they begin migrating at the end of August.

"There might be a greater influx of bats into the area then," she said.

Rabies, a brain disease caused by a virus in the saliva of an infected animal and transmitted by bites, is nearly always curable if treated soon enough but almost always fatal if not.

Weiss said Ohio's rabid bats are most likely big brown bats or little brown bats, although the department does not specifically identify the species.

People should not be alarmed, Weiss said.

"If you see a bat that is active during the day, or you see it on the lawn or in a room and it is approachable, it is probably sick," Weiss said. "You should stay away from it."

People who capture a bat should wear gloves and avoid direct skin contact. They should also avoid damaging the bat's head or drowning to prevent ruining officials' ability to test for rabies. After capture, the local health department should be called immediately, Weiss said.


Granted, this article was written 3 years ago, but I'm sure it still holds true, since I live in the Cleveland, Ohio area, and the bat that I found is a little brown bat, one that the article states as having the highest incidents of being rabid. I'm going to take Erin's excellent advice, and just leave the bat alone. I don't think it's worth getting bitten with the possibility of getting rabies. I'm hoping that the weather warms up, so the little bat can continue migrating to where it wants to go. I feel bad just leaving it there, but it just seems too risky. The situations I get myself into!
[Edited 9/20/06 13:25pm]