Living with Bats

I’ve Found a Bat! What Should I Do?

Situation: You’ve found a bat either inside your home, school, or workplace, or outside clinging to the side of a building, on a tree, or lying on the ground.

Why this happens: If a bat is in your home or other structure, likely points of entry include an uncapped chimney, open and unscreened (or torn screen) windows, uncovered vents, a door that has been propped open – even briefly – or holes, cracks or gaps in the siding, overhangs, or roof. Bats do NOT chew their way into a building – the entry points they utilize are pre-existing.

Bats enter buildings for many reasons. In the late fall, winter, and spring, the bat may have been attempting to hibernate in the attic but became dehydrated or sick and unintentionally found their way into your living quarters while searching for water or warmth. If it is late summer, the bats born this year are on their own for the first time and a young bat may have been looking for a place to rest for the day and ended up inside your home by mistake. If a bat is found outside hanging on a wall or tree, it may be injured or sick, or it may just be a migrating bat that has stopped to rest. If a bat is found outside on the ground, it is probably injured, sick, or exhausted.

Rabies Awareness

Rabies is a virus that many mammals, such as dogs, cats, raccoons, etc. may potentially “carry” (it will eventually make them sick and ultimately it will kill them). Although only a very small percentage of bats have the rabies virus, it is still something to take seriously. The rabies virus is passed through the saliva of a rabid animal, most commonly through a bite or scratch. You cannot get rabies from looking at or just being in the presence of a bat or any other animal.

A “possible rabies exposure” means that there was a known bite or scratch from a bat, or that circumstances existed where a person may have been bitten or scratched without their knowledge, such as a bat was found in a room where a person was sleeping, or a bat was found in a room with an infant or child or with someone who is incapacitated or inebriated, or found in a situation where a pet may have been bitten or scratched by a bat. If there is a chance that a person or pet may have been exposed to the rabies virus, then the bat should be safely contained (see “How to Safely Contain a Bat”, below) – please DO NOT harm the bat in any way. Then contact your local public health department to report the possible rabies exposure and get their advice.

If you have a bat in your house:

Do not panic and do not grab a tennis racquet or broom! Keep calm and know that this bat is scared and attempting to find a way out of the building she accidentally found her way into.

1. Find the bat. Bats will usually try to land on something they can grasp with their tiny feet such as

curtains, or trim molding near the ceiling. If the bat is flying, do not try to catch the bat in midair as this can injure the bat and may increase the potential for you to have direct contact with the bat. It is best to watch and wait until she lands.

If you are unable to locate the bat - determine if there was a known or possible human or pet exposure (see previous paragraph). If there was an exposure (bite, scratch, or direct contact with the bat), or suspected exposure, you should contact your doctor or local public health department right away for advice.

2. Safely contain the bat (see “How to Safely Contain a Bat” below).

3. Contact your local licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

In the Central Valley of California call Critter Creek Wildlife Station 559-338-2415

If you have a bat outside of your house:

1. If you think the bat may be injured AND/OR is on the ground, you may safely contain the bat (see “How to Safely Contain a Bat” below) and contact your local wildlife rehabilitator.

2. If the bat appears to be uninjured and is hanging on a building, tree, or other vertical surface, we recommend you contact your local licensed wildlife rehabilitator before you contain the bat. If it is relatively warm outdoors and it is during migration in spring or fall, this bat may be resting during the day and migrating at night. The rehabilitator may recommend that you leave the bat alone and check back early the following morning to see if the bat has left during the night. However, depending on the situation, they may instead recommend you safely contain the bat for transport to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, so it’s best to speak with a wildlife rehabilitator directly.

If you have a bats in the attic of your house:

To safely exclude bats from your attic, you should hire a professional company that does exclusion.

Also, if you plan to exclude bats, while this is humane during certain times of the year, know that you are still essentially kicking them out of their home – they will have to find a new roost, and this can be difficult for them. We suggest you consider providing man-made bat houses as an alternative housing option. Information on how to build (or buy) a proper bat house and how they should be placed can be found on the Bat Conservation International and Bat World Sanctuary websites.

If you have a bats living on the outside of your house:

The easiest and most humane thing to do is to leave them alone. As long as your house is secure, there is no chance for them to enter your home – bats do not create entry points; they merely utilize pre-existing ones. Your shutters are essentially functioning as bat houses, giving these marvelous little flying-insect eaters a secure place to hide and rest.

How to Help Bats

Bats do need our help: more than half of the species in Wisconsin are listed as “state threatened” species. Their numbers are at risk for many reasons including habitat loss, overuse of pesticides, and most recently, a disease called White-nose Syndrome, caused by an invasive fungus which has killed MILLIONS of bats in the last few years

• Keep your pets, even indoor-only pets, up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations to help protect your pet and the bat if you should find a bat inside your home or if your pet finds a bat on the ground outside.

• Ensure your living quarters are bat-proof. Preventing bats from entering your living space will prevent a possible rabies exposure for your family and help protect the life of any bat that wanders into the living space of your home from the possible need for rabies testing.

· Share your appreciation and knowledge about bats with others! These beneficial creatures are plagued by human persecution caused by myth and mystery. This lack of understanding on our part leads to fear which often, in turn, leads people to cause these wonderful animals harm. Tell other people how awesome they are!

How to Safely Contain a Bat

Please do NOT harm or kill the bat! Besides the fact that bats are living creatures capable of feeling fear and pain, should the bat need to be tested for rabies, the bat’s brain must be intact and undamaged in order for the test to be done. So ultimately, to protect the people and pets involved, it is important that the bat is not injured or killed.

Do not handle the bat directly!! But you should still wear lightweight leather gloves during this process as an additional level of protection from physical contact.

Get a shoebox or some other container of similar size and a flat piece of cardboard or similar material that will completely cover the opening of the box. Using a pencil or pen, poke a few air holes in the sides of the box, but make sure there are no holes in the box larger than a dime and no gaps between the lid and the box.

Find the bat. If she is flying around, wait until she lands. Bats will usually try to land on something they can grasp with their tiny feet such as curtains, or trim molding near the ceiling. Do not try to catch the bat in midair as this can injure the bat and may increase your chance of touching the bat. It is best to watch and wait until she lands.

Without touching the bat, place the box over the bat to enclose her between the box and the surface she is clinging to. She may make some screeching or hissing noises – this is okay – she’s just scared!

Next, gently slide the flat piece of cardboard between the box and the surface she is on to trap the bat in the box. We flattened the lid of the shoebox and used that. Once contained, tape the lid or flat piece of cardboard securely to the box.

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