How can I safely capture a bat in my home? How can rabies be prevented? Where can I learn more about bats? If a bat is present in your home and you cannot rule out the • Teach children never to handle unfamiliar animals, wild or Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources possibility of exposure, leave the bat alone and contact an domestic, even if they appear friendly. “Love your own, Bureau of Endangered Resources BATS animal-control or public health agency for assistance. If leave other animals alone” is a good principle for children 101 S. Webster Ave. professional help is unavailable, use precautions to capture to learn. Madison, WI 53703 AND the bat safely, as described below. 608-266-7012 • Wash any wound from an animal thoroughly with soap www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/er/mammals/bat/myths.htm RABIES What you will need: and water and seek medical attention immediately. • leather work gloves Bat Conservation International, Inc. A PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDE • small box or coffee can • Have all dead, sick, or easily captured bats tested for P.O. Box 162603 • piece of cardboard rabies if exposure to people or pets occurs. Austin, Texas 78716 • tape www.batcon.org • Prevent bats from entering living quarters or occupied When the bat lands, approach it slowly, while wearing the spaces in homes, churches, schools, and other similar U S Fish and Wildlife Service gloves, and place the box or coffee can over it. Slide the areas where they might contact people and pets. Division of Endangered Species cardboard under the container to trap the bat inside. Tape 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 452 the cardboard to the • Be a responsible pet owner by keeping vaccinations Arlington, Virginia 22203 container securely, current for all dogs, cats, and ferrets; keeping your cats http://www.fws.gov/endangered/bats/bats.htm and punch small and ferrets inside and your dogs under direct supervision; holes in the and calling animal control to remove stray animals from Where can I learn more about rabies? cardboard, allowing your neighborhood. Consider having your pets spayed or Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, the bat to breathe. neutered. Trade & Consumer Protection Contact your local Division of Animal Health health department or Are bats beneficial? 2811 Agriculture Drive animal-control Yes. Worldwide, bats are a major predator of night-flying Madison, WI 53718 authority to arrange insects, including pests that cost farmers billions of dollars 608-224-4888 Eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus) testing. annually. Throughout the tropics, seed dispersal and pollination activities by bats are vital to rain forest survival. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention If you see a bat in your home and you are sure no human In addition, studies of bats have contributed to medical National Center for Infectious Diseases or pet exposure has occurred, confine the bat to a room by advances including the development of navigational aids for Rabies Section MS G-33 closing all doors and windows leading out of the room the blind. Unfortunately, many local populations of bats 1600 Clifton Road except those to the outside. The bat will probably leave have been destroyed and many species are now Atlanta, Georgia 30333 soon. If not, it can be caught, as described, and released endangered. www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies outdoors away from people and pets. Little brown bat Your local health department: (Myotis lucifugus) Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) This brochure is adapted from “Bats and Rabies, A public health guide.” Published 1998 by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and revised in 2000 by the Ohio Department of Health. The photos that appear in this brochure were provided courtesy of Bat Conservation International, Inc. (BCI) and were used with permission. The use of these photos and the shared development of this brochure do not imply endorsement of BCI’s views, services, or products by any of the agencies listed above. The Wisconsin Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection thanks the U.S. Public Health Trade and Consumer Protection Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio Department of Health, and Bat Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) Conservation International for use of their materials. Division of Animal Health DAH-035 9/07 What is rabies and how do people get it? What if I come in contact with a bat? Whenever a person has an exposure or reasonable rooms of your home. For assistance with “bat-proofing” Rabies is an infectious viral disease that affects the nervous If you are bitten by a bat — or if infectious material (such as probability of exposure to a bat, the bat should be captured your home, contact an animal-control or wildlife system of humans and other mammals. People get rabies saliva) from a bat gets into your eyes, nose, mouth, or a and tested. If a bat is not available for testing, immediate conservation agency. If you choose to do the “bat-proofing” when a rabid animal bites them. Any wild mammal, like a wound — wash the affected area thoroughly and get medical consultation is advised. yourself, here are some suggestions: raccoon, skunk, fox, coyote, or bat, can transmit rabies to medical advice immediately. Whenever possible, the bat people. It is also possible, but quite rare, for people to get should be captured and sent to a laboratory for rabies Case study Carefully examine your home for holes that might allow bats rabies if infectious material such as saliva from a rabid testing. In February 1995, the aunt of a 4-year-old girl was entry into your living quarters. Any openings larger than a animal gets directly into the eyes, nose, mouth, or a wound. People usually know when they have been bitten by a bat. awakened by the sounds of a bat in the room where the quarter-inch by a half-inch should be caulked. Use window Because rabies is a fatal disease, the goal of public health However, because bats have small child was sleeping. The child did not wake up until the screens, chimney caps, and draft-guards beneath doors to is, first, to prevent human exposure to rabies by education teeth which may leave marks that bat was captured, killed, and discarded. The girl reported attics, fill electrical and plumbing holes with stainless steel and, second, to prevent the disease by anti-rabies are not easily seen, there are no bite, and no evidence of a bite wound was found wool or caulking, and ensure that all doors to the outside treatment if exposure occurs. Tens of thousands of people situations in which you should seek when she was examined. One month later the child close tightly. became sick and died of rabies. The dead bat was are successfully treated each year after being bitten by an medical advice even in the Down chimney animal that may have rabies. A few people die of rabies absence of an obvious bite wound. recovered from the yard and tested — it had rabies. È each year in the United States, usually because they do not For example, if you awaken and Openings around chimneyÌ recognize the risk of rabies from the bite of a wild animal find a bat in your room, see a bat in This case demonstrates several points: and do not seek medical advice. the room of an unattended child, or • This child’s infection with rabies was most likely the Under loose Æ Through vents result of a bat bite. Children sleep heavily and may shingles Å< Why should I learn about bats and rabies? see a bat near a mentally impaired or intoxicated person, seek medical Silver-haired bat not awaken from the presence of a small bat. A bat Most of the recent human rabies cases in the United States (Lasionycteris noctivagans) bite can be superficial and not easily noticed. have been caused by rabies virus from bats. Awareness of advice and have the bat tested. the facts about bats and rabies can help people protect • The bat was behaving abnormally. Instead of hiding, Under eavesÆ themselves, their families, and their pets. This information the bat was making unusual noises and was having Through open, may also help clear up misunderstandings about bats. What is rabies exposure? Å difficulty flying.This strange behavior should have Under sidingÆ unscreened When people think about bats, led to a strong suspicion of rabies. Ê windows Exposure: Under or through open doors they often imagine things that are untrue. Bats are not blind. • A bite from a rabid bat • If the bat had been submitted for rabies testing, a • Saliva or brain tissue from a rabid bat gets into positive test would have led to life-saving anti-rabies They are not rodents or birds. Additional bat-proofing can prevent bats from roosting in a scratch, wound, or mucous membrane treatment. They will not suck your blood, attics of buildings by covering outside entry points. and most do not have rabies. Observe where the bats exit at dusk and exclude them by Potential for exposure: Remember, in situations in which a bat is physically Bats play key roles in loosely hanging clear plastic sheeting or bird netting over present and you cannot reasonably rule out having ecosystems around the globe, • A bat in the room with a sleeping person or an these areas. Bats can crawl out and leave, but cannot re- been bitten, safely capture the bat for rabies testing from rain forests to deserts, unattended child enter. After the bats have been excluded, the openings and seek medical attention immediately. especially by eating insects, • A bat near a mentally impaired or intoxicated can be permanently sealed.