Let’s start by getting one thing straight, only somewhere between three and five percent of bats carry rabies. When you consider how many thousands and thousands of bats are around at any given time, that’s a very small number.
The problem is that most of the bats people come into contact with outside are rabid. Bats are only slow enough for you to catch, out in the daytime, or laying on the ground because they are ill. And you will inevitably find a story of some good samaritan that is trying to rescue said bat. This makes people think that more bats carry rabies then they actually do.
The other factor that makes people have to get rabies shots after a bat exposure, is that their teeth are so small, most people don’t know if they’ve been bitten or not. It’s the unknown variable of bats and the “better safe than sorry” mantra that makes people have to get shots more often than not.
However, bats are wild animals. Much like raccoons. More raccoons, skunks, and foxes carry rabies than bats. I’ve even seen numerous reports of people being attacked by rabid gophers than by rabid bats.
Leave Wildlife Alone
Baby raccoons are cute. I get it, I’m an animal lover as well. They are still wild animals!
Most animals don’t leave their young undefended and alone unless they have a reason to. We aren’t sure why, but we have noticed in over 20 years of bat removal, that either rabid bats leave or the colony kicks them out. We aren’t sure which, but it is a pretty common occurrence.
So, this story about a baby raccoon that was abandoned by its mother but loved by some humans, is a little mind boggling for me.
A Colorado woman found the baby raccoon on her property and brought it into her home, according to a release from the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment.
She then invited her friends and family over to see it. Can you imagine how much they ooh’d and ah’d over it? Petting it, holding it, maybe kissing it’s little head?
When the baby raccoon then tested positive for rabies, all 21 people had to be treated for rabies. It is the largest rabies exposure case in Weld County history.
Rabies shots can cost anywhere from $6,000 per person to $70,000 per person depending on the supply and demand for the vaccine, your health insurance (or lack thereof), and where you seek treatment. There are numerous factors to how much you will pay, but the harsh truth is, you will pay. And it will be more than most of us are comfortable with.
Rabies is considered 100% fatal without quick treatment. Once symptoms set in, it is too late. Symptoms can take a few weeks to a few months to develop depending on the exposure site.
Wildlife and Humans Just Don’t Mix
If something as well intended as rescuing a baby raccoon could go so wrong, image how wrong things can go for you if you live with a bat infestation in your home. It only takes one time waking up with a bat flying around your bedroom to change your whole life.
If you have bats living in your home or building, don’t wait until it’s too late. Don’t wait until you have to make a financially expensive life or death decision.
Call Get Bats Out today to get on the path to becoming bat free.
Your local bat removal expert,
Michael Koski
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