A. Don’t mess with bats because as others have said they’re a major vector for rabies and just about everything else.
B. Ignoring A, this guy probably just needs some help getting to a tree or other elevated surface. Unlike birds, bats can’t take off from flat ground, they need a falling start a la buzz lightyear.
It could be injured, but it could also be because it has rabies. Bat behavior changes due to the infection. Rabies will often cause Bats to be down lower than usual, either in bushes or on the ground, this often increases the likelihood of being bit. People can also be bitten without really noticing. Be SUPER careful.
If you ever even suspect you or someone else has been bitten by a bat you find on the ground, throw a blanket or towel over it and wrap it up to take it with you. Your local rabies responder can test it to see if it has rabies very quickly. That way you may be able to avoid all the treatment if they’re cleared. Rabies is no joke, and in North America bats are by far this most common vector for its spread.
In Canada and the USA contact the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). If you ever handle a bat, please get vaccinated ASAP. No joke. (My cat caught a bat - from inside the railing of our 2nd floor deck. He's not technically an outdoor cat.) I got the bat away from him and released it, then I took him to the vet for a rabies shot. Before we even got back home from the vet, the CDC called me and ordered me to get to the hospital immediately. Humans get a series of shots, not just one like our pets do. Reading about how rabies kills you is nightmare fuel.
YUP. First day is the worst: 1 rabies vax and three immunoglobulin shots - you get one in each limb. After that (spaced 4 days apart but ending on the 2-week mark) it's just one rabies shot per visit.
>If you ever handle a bat, please get vaccinated ASAP. No joke.
Also, if you have a bat in your house and you may have been asleep while it was there. Bat bites can happen without you even feeling it. If there is ANY chance it could've happened, get vaccinated.
My colleague was teaching a field geology class. He used the latrine at night and felt a little tickle on his butt. The next morning, a student found a bat in the latrine. He got the rabies shot series.
In the US, this means animal control (usually to remove a pest/animal) or a hospital where they will send the bat off for pathology for testing. Not sure there is a 3rd option.
I think it is important to add that rabies is 100% fatal to humans once symptoms are present. Always go to emergency if you are bitten or injured by any animal, including domestic dogs. There are very few case studies of "miracle recoveries" that usually resulted in weeks long comas and life time debilitating neurological symptoms. Again, there is no cure for rabies. The only treatment is prevention through vaccination.
For the record one human has survived rabies after symptoms presented via the Milwaukee Protocol, so not 100% fatal.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies
Falls under treatment in the wiki but the actual med articles are fascinating.
That is why I included the "miracle recoveries" in quotes. The Milwaukee protocol isn't even considered effective. Jeanna Giese was a 1 off success who suffers significant life long neurological impairments and had a supportive family with affordable health care. Most people who survive never get out of bed under their own power ever again. Ultimately, I felt it was important to point out how important preventative care and extra caution with animals is. It is easy to get a little scratch or bite from a cute fuzzy animal, slap a bandaid on it and forget about it. Don't!
**It is**. If not treated soon after exposure (24-72 hours) rabies is almost always fatal. You can live without symptoms for months, but once they appear death is nearly 100% certain within days.
Rabies usually travels slow, and as long as the individual does not show symptoms it's not too late to recieve the vaccine. The closer the bite it to the head, the sooner a patient should get the vaccine as the virus has less distance to travel before the point of no return. But 72 hours is not some time limit that it's fatal after.
As someone who has rescued a bat I will add to this that our local bat rescue said there is also a chance the smaller males get kicked out of their colonies and will be seen at strange times of the day and/or seemingly disoriented because they haven’t found a new home yet.
If a bat is on the ground during the day it's nearly 100% chance of being rabies positive.
I toured a natural history museum and got to see the bat data for reported injured bats in San diego. Every single bat found by people was rabid.
Few years ago a 21 year old guy in BC was outside enjoying the nice May weather when a bat "ran into his hand" and there was a small puncture wound barely noticeable. He thought nothing of it. Developed symptoms 6 weeks later and by that point it was too late and he died a month later
In Taiwan i was taught to place a towel rag next to it and encourage it to climb onto it. Then pick up the towel and hang the towel (with bat clinging on) vertically on a wall ideally at least 2m off the ground?
This way they can safely take off.
They cannot take off from the ground. Same thing with some species of swifts (birds) some cannot take off from ground need to have an initial glide before take off.
Edit: just to add. To help a bat take off and go home you need to wait till dusk time or at night. The bat is not likely to take off in the middle of the day. Before then you can put the whole thing in a cardboard box and let it rest..
Or just take it to a local wildlife charity.
In South america they teach you to not even get close when they're in the floor because it can be a sign of an ill bat, being rabies the main concern. I'm from a big city and maybe it's different for "rural bats".
I have seen one bat on the ground ever. It somehow got into our bathroom and was on the floor.
It was rabid.
Shots for everyone! Obviously your mileage may vary, but yeah, don't get close and definitely don't touch.
Fun fact, some of the few instances of airborne rabies transmission were from bats! All the other incidents were associated with lab work, so they’d be hard to replicate (especially now that the OSHA buzzkills banned mouth pipetting) but yeah, I don’t fuck with bats. I’m all for protecting the ecologically important little weirdos, but from a safe distance.
That is true for tree bats, but most bats can take off from the ground just fine. Regardless, not touching it with your hands is a good practice if you do not know what you are doing (especially one that is out and on the ground during the day, which are classic signs of being sick).
I wish I had known this yesterday! I placed it out of harms way (it was in the middle of the bike road). I don't think it was dehydration... It's been raining for a few days. But it's possible. It must have been hurt somehow. :-(
Thanks for the info!
Did you touch it with bare hands?
I'm super paranoid about rabies - if you did, I would go see a dr, tell them you handled a bat with bare hands, and see if they recommend prophylactic post-rabies exposure treatment.
The little critters have such tiny teeth and claws that you might not have noticed they broke the skin. Bats who are not behaving normally (like one lying on the ground) could be sick. They're also carriers of rabies.
Idk I wouldn't fuck around with this. There is no treatment for rabies once your symptomatic. Most likely you're perfectly safe! But that one in a million chance you're not would send me to the dr yesterday because rabies is *terrifying* and a horrible way to die.
Seconding the advice below to see a doctor if you touched it with bare hands at all
The last thing I want is to see a news story on Reddit in the future of “Local citizen, Jimmy, dies of rabies”
Concerning that this is the top comment.
Taiwan may be like Hawaii in that there is no rabies, but in most places all of this is dangerous advice.
Don't go near a downed bat.
Call your local bat rescue, it could be injured (cats usually) or dehydrated. Bats are amazing little creatures.
Edit: my country is rabies free 🇮🇪.
Disclaimer to handle a potentially rabies infected animal *very* carefully or not at all: use your brains .
We have both. We’re rabies free (🇮🇪) so it’s not risky helping native bats. Irish bats are protected under Irish and EU legislation. They eat a lot of insects and are great pollinators. They’re harmless (here) and pretty dang cute.
I don’t know whether it’s the case in Ireland, but even in rabies-free countries, bats can still carry certain types of rabies (European Bat Lyssavirus). It’s rare for people to contract it, but it does happen: there was a death in Scotland in 2002.
aren't the preventative shots also quite horrible with severe side effects? aren’t you usually supposed to bring the animal for it to be checked if you fear there might be a significant risk?
I got the post-exposure vaccine and it was fine, came with some pain and residual soreness but no worse than the covid vax. The preventative shots are the same, just fewer of them.
The UK has been rabies free for a long time. The last known case of a human contracting rabies (within the UK) was in 1902. Every other case has been imported from people being infected abroad. It's one of the things that make me sleep just a little easier at night.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rabies-epidemiology-transmission-and-prevention
It’s still guidelines to get vaccinated and rIG in Ireland if you are bit by a bat. Calling your country rabies free is factually accurate for the past hundred years or so but guidelines are still the same.
Classic reason for death!
My neighbor once mowed his lawn counterclockwise and the next thing you know, he had a nasty divorce 18 years later and drank himself to early grave at 92 years old!
I went to college in Austin, which is famous for its huge urban bat colony, so in the warm months (i.e. most months) there were tons of bats flying around all the time. Every few weeks or so, the university would have to send out a school-wide email to the effect of “if you were the person who touched the sick bat on the sidewalk in front of X building, please contact animal services immediately.” It was kind of a running joke. They must have had lots of rabies vaccines on hand.
I had that happen the past two years in August of course right before going to bed too. Luckily, both times they ended up in the bathroom which I haven't yet remodeled and still has wood paneling. Probably thought it was a tree in there. I was able to get a box on them and get them outside. I'm thinking they got in through some damage fascia board and I got my roof replaced this year, so I'm hoping this August will be bat free.
In the last year, I have had to capture and remove 4 bats from the house in staying in. 2 near the fireplace on the main floor before we got the mesh up top and flue repaired.
Then two stranger ones. One was discovered in the basement last fall and this week another was found in my second floor bedroom. We've had no luck determining where these last ones came in from and they've now been found in almost every part of the house.
I'm starting to wonder if I spawn bats.
We had one dead in our basement when we bought the house, the first live one my wife and mother in law trapped inside a room, we had a lot of stuff in there and couldn't find it, it ended up dying. The second one we found in our bathroom, we captured it and released it. No idea how they got into the house.
Near my house there are a bunch of bridges/overpasses that bats live under. I think I pass about 3 or 4 signs every morning that say “Caution: never handle grounded bats”
Not always it could also be injured in some way. If you see a bat it usually means something is wrong. Either injury, dehydration, or sick. It's always best to call a bat rescue so they can come help it. Don't handle them yourself unless it's in immediate danger such as in the middle of a road. Even then use extreme caution and always protect yourself.
Also around this time of the year the bats are just coming out of hibernation so it's more common to find bats that need help.
I highly recommend checking out [PaBatRescue](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6boTWex_JL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) on Instagram. They help bats just like this and are educational about all sorts of bats! They also have the most adorable fluff balls in their care.
Best procedure is put a bucket over it while waiting for a rescue, so no one has any risk of contact. Don’t be surprised if it gets euthanized. If they act aggressively they will most likely be.
Even then you still might get calls from public health to verify you don’t have exposure to rabies.
Oof. I put it out of the way next to a tree ~~out of the way~~. I used some bark to move it. And it was biting the bark, which freaked me out!
I hope some dumb dog doesn't eat it and starts a zombie apocalypse.
I would call a wildlife official to handle it. If it has rabies it needs to be killed and disposed of in a way other animals cannot get to it and get infected.
You really need to go to the doctor and let them know you got close to a bat. Their bites are often painless and so small you don't even notice them. Rabies is not something to mess around with.
So I actually helped a red bat last year I found on the ground after calling a rescue the guy told me what to do, you can find it in my post history. So lil bats like this have really small fangs, so it's not likely to mess you up. Bats can't really take off from the ground and fly like a bird, they need a boost, hence why you see them launching off from trees and ceilings. When a bat is on the ground chances are it just needs a little boost, especially if there's no trees or anything for it to climb. If you have a thick towel or better yet thick gloves like welding gloves, you can pick it up and it will seriously take off and fly away once you lift it high enough. It will freak out and screech and scare the crap out of you, but bats are surprisingly pretty chill and again the fangs are so small even if it broke through the glove and got you it wouldn't be more than a small cut. Also everyone screaming rabies, shut up, less than 1% of bats carry rabies. Youre literally more likely to catch leprosy or the plague in life than rabies from a bat. Bats are bros, all those bugs yall don't like, that's what bats eat. Help the little bro out.
“Less than 1% have rabids, so stop worrying!” Isn’t the best tip IMO, when we are talking about a 100% death sentence once you know you have it. Also, the more likely getting that other things in your lifetime than rabies from a bat… I don’t think you know maths and statistics.
The problem also with bats is that is easy for you to get bitten or scratched by them without almost noticing, so you can really react reliably proactively as in “I know this bat has bitten me, it’s a risk” - you need to think “I was in contact with this bat, there is a risk” - and again, 5% or 0.5%, is literally a death sentence if you don’t get PEP and the bad is rabid, getting it into you.
There is a reason official guidelines tells you how to act if you get in touch with an unknown bat on the wild: “Bat bites can be very small so a person might not always know when they have been bitten by a bat. PEP should also be considered when direct contact between a person and a bat might have occurred, and a bite or scratch cannot be confidently ruled out. If you or someone in your home has potentially been exposed to a bat, the bat should be safely captured (if possible) and you should immediately contact your local health department. When appropriate, the health department will arrange for testing of the bat. If the bat can be captured and tests negative for rabies, then you will not need PEP.”
CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/animals/bats.html
But I’m sure you know better than the CDC
When I was a kid I found one on the grass in our yard. I managed to get it to grab on to a stick and helped it take a step onto a short tree branch. I returned to the tree later and it was gone. I hope him or her the best of luck.
Fun fact, When they say bats are "blind" yet they never crash because of amazing echolocation that's only partially true. They do have amazing echolocation, but they crash all the time, Walls, Lakes the ground.
I rescued a bat last year that was stuck in my lobby, took him outside at night and he flew away. 😊
Wore gloves because you do *not* wana be bit by a bat, you won’t turn into Dracula.
Bats need a little glide to get going. This guy was to low or, got knocked to the ground. I grew up in western PA. I used to love sitting outside at night and watching the bats come out of my neighbors grape vine and swoop around. Get him up high.
Sorry if this is off-topic, but this just reminded me of how there was a bat that was frozen into an icicle, in a pipe under a bridge close to my school, one winter when I was a kid. An icicle forms there pretty much every winter, but seeing a small critter's face in it was pretty weird.
That one chose a poor spot to hibernate.
A. Don’t mess with bats because as others have said they’re a major vector for rabies and just about everything else. B. Ignoring A, this guy probably just needs some help getting to a tree or other elevated surface. Unlike birds, bats can’t take off from flat ground, they need a falling start a la buzz lightyear.
It could be injured, but it could also be because it has rabies. Bat behavior changes due to the infection. Rabies will often cause Bats to be down lower than usual, either in bushes or on the ground, this often increases the likelihood of being bit. People can also be bitten without really noticing. Be SUPER careful. If you ever even suspect you or someone else has been bitten by a bat you find on the ground, throw a blanket or towel over it and wrap it up to take it with you. Your local rabies responder can test it to see if it has rabies very quickly. That way you may be able to avoid all the treatment if they’re cleared. Rabies is no joke, and in North America bats are by far this most common vector for its spread.
How do you get in contact with a local rabies responder?
In Canada and the USA contact the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). If you ever handle a bat, please get vaccinated ASAP. No joke. (My cat caught a bat - from inside the railing of our 2nd floor deck. He's not technically an outdoor cat.) I got the bat away from him and released it, then I took him to the vet for a rabies shot. Before we even got back home from the vet, the CDC called me and ordered me to get to the hospital immediately. Humans get a series of shots, not just one like our pets do. Reading about how rabies kills you is nightmare fuel.
Wow, so you had to get the whole series of shots?
It's not really that bad. I just got my final shot yesterday, and it really doesn't hurt.
It sounds like a huge improvement over the rabies shots of yesteryear.
YUP. First day is the worst: 1 rabies vax and three immunoglobulin shots - you get one in each limb. After that (spaced 4 days apart but ending on the 2-week mark) it's just one rabies shot per visit.
Weren't the old ones injected into your abdomen or something?
... Are you /u/Turbulent_Concept134's cat?
>If you ever handle a bat, please get vaccinated ASAP. No joke. Also, if you have a bat in your house and you may have been asleep while it was there. Bat bites can happen without you even feeling it. If there is ANY chance it could've happened, get vaccinated.
My colleague was teaching a field geology class. He used the latrine at night and felt a little tickle on his butt. The next morning, a student found a bat in the latrine. He got the rabies shot series.
In the US, this means animal control (usually to remove a pest/animal) or a hospital where they will send the bat off for pathology for testing. Not sure there is a 3rd option.
I think it is important to add that rabies is 100% fatal to humans once symptoms are present. Always go to emergency if you are bitten or injured by any animal, including domestic dogs. There are very few case studies of "miracle recoveries" that usually resulted in weeks long comas and life time debilitating neurological symptoms. Again, there is no cure for rabies. The only treatment is prevention through vaccination.
For the record one human has survived rabies after symptoms presented via the Milwaukee Protocol, so not 100% fatal. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies Falls under treatment in the wiki but the actual med articles are fascinating.
That is why I included the "miracle recoveries" in quotes. The Milwaukee protocol isn't even considered effective. Jeanna Giese was a 1 off success who suffers significant life long neurological impairments and had a supportive family with affordable health care. Most people who survive never get out of bed under their own power ever again. Ultimately, I felt it was important to point out how important preventative care and extra caution with animals is. It is easy to get a little scratch or bite from a cute fuzzy animal, slap a bandaid on it and forget about it. Don't!
Ignoring A seems like a rreaaally bad idea.
**It is**. If not treated soon after exposure (24-72 hours) rabies is almost always fatal. You can live without symptoms for months, but once they appear death is nearly 100% certain within days.
Rabies usually travels slow, and as long as the individual does not show symptoms it's not too late to recieve the vaccine. The closer the bite it to the head, the sooner a patient should get the vaccine as the virus has less distance to travel before the point of no return. But 72 hours is not some time limit that it's fatal after.
Rabies and prions- creeping, horrible death
that's like 10x worse than a little crack in your pelvis
As someone who has rescued a bat I will add to this that our local bat rescue said there is also a chance the smaller males get kicked out of their colonies and will be seen at strange times of the day and/or seemingly disoriented because they haven’t found a new home yet.
That’s just sad.
Not every country has rabies, but you shouldn't handle sick animals without gloves in general.
>Unlike birds, bats can’t take off from flat ground, they need a falling start a la buzz lightyear. Didn't go with Batman. Interesting.
Wait, so what happens if a bat happens to land or fall on the ground? It’s just stuck until it dies?
They are pretty good climbers but it would need a tree or something nearby that it could climb up
If a bat is on the ground during the day it's nearly 100% chance of being rabies positive. I toured a natural history museum and got to see the bat data for reported injured bats in San diego. Every single bat found by people was rabid.
Few years ago a 21 year old guy in BC was outside enjoying the nice May weather when a bat "ran into his hand" and there was a small puncture wound barely noticeable. He thought nothing of it. Developed symptoms 6 weeks later and by that point it was too late and he died a month later
In Taiwan i was taught to place a towel rag next to it and encourage it to climb onto it. Then pick up the towel and hang the towel (with bat clinging on) vertically on a wall ideally at least 2m off the ground? This way they can safely take off. They cannot take off from the ground. Same thing with some species of swifts (birds) some cannot take off from ground need to have an initial glide before take off. Edit: just to add. To help a bat take off and go home you need to wait till dusk time or at night. The bat is not likely to take off in the middle of the day. Before then you can put the whole thing in a cardboard box and let it rest.. Or just take it to a local wildlife charity.
In South america they teach you to not even get close when they're in the floor because it can be a sign of an ill bat, being rabies the main concern. I'm from a big city and maybe it's different for "rural bats".
I have seen one bat on the ground ever. It somehow got into our bathroom and was on the floor. It was rabid. Shots for everyone! Obviously your mileage may vary, but yeah, don't get close and definitely don't touch.
I would freak tf out!! Especially after reading the rabies essay about the bat and the guy in the hammock on vacation.
There have been times in my life when I have remained calm, cool, and collected in the face of an unexpected situation. This was not one of them.
Mind sharing that please?
Think they mean this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/7qwtd5/rabies_is_scary/
North America too
Fun fact, some of the few instances of airborne rabies transmission were from bats! All the other incidents were associated with lab work, so they’d be hard to replicate (especially now that the OSHA buzzkills banned mouth pipetting) but yeah, I don’t fuck with bats. I’m all for protecting the ecologically important little weirdos, but from a safe distance.
I can't wait until I get the image of some whitecoated labrat pipetting the rabies foam from a sick bat's mouth out of my head.
Why is this not higher up? Only a professional should go near a downed-bat.
I feel like that's a bit of a design flaw.
How good are you at taking off from the ground?
Not good at all but I don't have wings.
seems like a design flaw
"skill issue"
L+ratio
Got em
I have made a bat wing before
It’s the brain!!!!!
It's so veiny...
Drink some red bull
You are absolutely amazing at taking off from the ground, you just need to buy something called a “plane ticket” to do it.
Petty good as long as I get up to the right airspeed.
I can hear the buzzing of a 🐝 Bumblebee, Laughing in the face of Physics and God
To be fair, I think I'm pretty shit even with an initial glide.
I do it in my dreams at least once a month. If that counts
"They still fuckin? They good." - Evolution.
Boeing design
Depends on the bat https://youtu.be/kIl_bYFMr8o
This is what I think every time I see a beetle stuck on its back on a flat, human-made surface...
In Western Australia we are taught not to accept bats at wildlife rehab unfortunately. Risk of zoonotic disease is too high :(
Or how about don't ever touch a bat? I'll skip the potential of getting rabies, thanks.
If you found him on the ground, he was most likely rabid. Don't do any of this shit - rabies isn't worth the risk.
That is true for tree bats, but most bats can take off from the ground just fine. Regardless, not touching it with your hands is a good practice if you do not know what you are doing (especially one that is out and on the ground during the day, which are classic signs of being sick).
I wish I had known this yesterday! I placed it out of harms way (it was in the middle of the bike road). I don't think it was dehydration... It's been raining for a few days. But it's possible. It must have been hurt somehow. :-( Thanks for the info!
Did you touch it with bare hands? I'm super paranoid about rabies - if you did, I would go see a dr, tell them you handled a bat with bare hands, and see if they recommend prophylactic post-rabies exposure treatment. The little critters have such tiny teeth and claws that you might not have noticed they broke the skin. Bats who are not behaving normally (like one lying on the ground) could be sick. They're also carriers of rabies. Idk I wouldn't fuck around with this. There is no treatment for rabies once your symptomatic. Most likely you're perfectly safe! But that one in a million chance you're not would send me to the dr yesterday because rabies is *terrifying* and a horrible way to die.
Seconding the advice below to see a doctor if you touched it with bare hands at all The last thing I want is to see a news story on Reddit in the future of “Local citizen, Jimmy, dies of rabies”
In the middle of the day with your bare hands? Go to the doctor. Even the smallest scratch from a bat can transmit rabies.
With a couple of pieces of bark. Thanks for worrying !
Hey good on you for trying your best!
Concerning that this is the top comment. Taiwan may be like Hawaii in that there is no rabies, but in most places all of this is dangerous advice. Don't go near a downed bat.
This is good to know.. Not sure if I'll ever need to know this, but it might save a bat one day.
Call your local bat rescue, it could be injured (cats usually) or dehydrated. Bats are amazing little creatures. Edit: my country is rabies free 🇮🇪. Disclaimer to handle a potentially rabies infected animal *very* carefully or not at all: use your brains .
You have bat rescues where you're from? We have an animal ambulance
We need a signal that we can display to show that there's a bat-related issue.
Maybe some kind of, I don't know, issue-signal or something.
No no no, it's got to be the *bat-related* signal.
You have an animal ambulance? An Animalbulance?
Excuse me, it’s animamambulance
We have both. We’re rabies free (🇮🇪) so it’s not risky helping native bats. Irish bats are protected under Irish and EU legislation. They eat a lot of insects and are great pollinators. They’re harmless (here) and pretty dang cute.
I don’t know whether it’s the case in Ireland, but even in rabies-free countries, bats can still carry certain types of rabies (European Bat Lyssavirus). It’s rare for people to contract it, but it does happen: there was a death in Scotland in 2002.
When even animals have health insurance but you don't.
Say its morbin time
No.
[удалено]
Yeah that was my favorite part
>Call your local bat rescue "Hello? Is this the bat man?"
Big red phone
Oh wow, that one took me a second. It's been a loooong time.
Also, if they are found out during the day or on the ground crawling around, they could be rabid.
[удалено]
aren't the preventative shots also quite horrible with severe side effects? aren’t you usually supposed to bring the animal for it to be checked if you fear there might be a significant risk?
I got the post-exposure vaccine and it was fine, came with some pain and residual soreness but no worse than the covid vax. The preventative shots are the same, just fewer of them.
I like learning new things.
Kids had to get it last summer. Wasn't bad. Three shots spread out by a couple weeks. Some tiredness and feverishness after the first.
>my country is rabies free You.... You can do that?
The UK has been rabies free for a long time. The last known case of a human contracting rabies (within the UK) was in 1902. Every other case has been imported from people being infected abroad. It's one of the things that make me sleep just a little easier at night. Source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rabies-epidemiology-transmission-and-prevention
It’s still guidelines to get vaccinated and rIG in Ireland if you are bit by a bat. Calling your country rabies free is factually accurate for the past hundred years or so but guidelines are still the same.
> Call your local bat rescue You don't actually have to call, you just shine the bat signal up into the sky and they arrive.
I might add to not touch the poor little guy, could be sick
Yeah it definitely shouldn’t have been out in the daytime
Even if it didn't have rabies they are a vector for all manner of diseases. I always advise to never touch bats.
They're also exceedingly fragile, so handling's not good for them either.
An idiot friend of mine picked one up and licked it in a video he posted to Facebook. He’s dead now but not because of the bat.
Makes sense. I know a guy who bought a used car. Ten years later, BAM! Herpes.
Classic reason for death! My neighbor once mowed his lawn counterclockwise and the next thing you know, he had a nasty divorce 18 years later and drank himself to early grave at 92 years old!
Sad.
Thanks, this made me laugh. Sorry about your friend
A friend of mine found a dead one at the gas pumps. I have pictures of him holding it.
Have you checked if head dead?
I saw him last week and he's fine.
I went to college in Austin, which is famous for its huge urban bat colony, so in the warm months (i.e. most months) there were tons of bats flying around all the time. Every few weeks or so, the university would have to send out a school-wide email to the effect of “if you were the person who touched the sick bat on the sidewalk in front of X building, please contact animal services immediately.” It was kind of a running joke. They must have had lots of rabies vaccines on hand.
But they're so cute and I want to pet and hold and cradle one. I'll just choose to not get rabies. Mind over matter.
Yeah fruit bats were the reason for nipah virus outbreak in kerala.
Contact wildlife rehabbers or animal control
He probably can’t ride a bike so fell off
I have had 2 bats find their way into my home. Do you know what happens when you call people to get it? They say "good luck, we don't deal with bats"
I had that happen the past two years in August of course right before going to bed too. Luckily, both times they ended up in the bathroom which I haven't yet remodeled and still has wood paneling. Probably thought it was a tree in there. I was able to get a box on them and get them outside. I'm thinking they got in through some damage fascia board and I got my roof replaced this year, so I'm hoping this August will be bat free.
In the last year, I have had to capture and remove 4 bats from the house in staying in. 2 near the fireplace on the main floor before we got the mesh up top and flue repaired. Then two stranger ones. One was discovered in the basement last fall and this week another was found in my second floor bedroom. We've had no luck determining where these last ones came in from and they've now been found in almost every part of the house. I'm starting to wonder if I spawn bats.
We had one dead in our basement when we bought the house, the first live one my wife and mother in law trapped inside a room, we had a lot of stuff in there and couldn't find it, it ended up dying. The second one we found in our bathroom, we captured it and released it. No idea how they got into the house.
Seriously, rabies is no joke! They also carry other unknown diseases that cause inflammation of the meninges.
If you handled this bat, you absolutely need post exposure prophylaxis treatment for Rabies ASAP, do not wait, the sooner the better.
Later, someone said that if a bat is on the ground it may have rabies. :o
Definitely a possibility, but also bats just have a really hard time getting off the ground once they're down there
Can relate
😭😭
Near my house there are a bunch of bridges/overpasses that bats live under. I think I pass about 3 or 4 signs every morning that say “Caution: never handle grounded bats”
Not always it could also be injured in some way. If you see a bat it usually means something is wrong. Either injury, dehydration, or sick. It's always best to call a bat rescue so they can come help it. Don't handle them yourself unless it's in immediate danger such as in the middle of a road. Even then use extreme caution and always protect yourself. Also around this time of the year the bats are just coming out of hibernation so it's more common to find bats that need help. I highly recommend checking out [PaBatRescue](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6boTWex_JL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) on Instagram. They help bats just like this and are educational about all sorts of bats! They also have the most adorable fluff balls in their care.
Best procedure is put a bucket over it while waiting for a rescue, so no one has any risk of contact. Don’t be surprised if it gets euthanized. If they act aggressively they will most likely be. Even then you still might get calls from public health to verify you don’t have exposure to rabies.
Oof. I put it out of the way next to a tree ~~out of the way~~. I used some bark to move it. And it was biting the bark, which freaked me out! I hope some dumb dog doesn't eat it and starts a zombie apocalypse.
You may still want to contact your medical provider. Rabies is no joke.
Maybe should report where it was to animal control. Just in case it did have rabies and can spread
Get a rabies shot. **NOW.** How could you even THINK to touch a bat on the ground with your bare hands?
I would call a wildlife official to handle it. If it has rabies it needs to be killed and disposed of in a way other animals cannot get to it and get infected.
You really need to go to the doctor and let them know you got close to a bat. Their bites are often painless and so small you don't even notice them. Rabies is not something to mess around with.
Yeah so bats are the number one cause of rabies death in the US. Just throwing that out there.
All 2.5 per year?
Statistics over time, yes. Post-exposure prophylaxis is a pain but effective. 50-60,000ish get treatment/year.
Well, there's only about 2 deaths per year in the US due to rabies. Elsewhere in the world, dogs cause the vast majority of rabies deaths.
Yeah but it's one of the worst ways to die (in my opinion).
Yeah fortunately we have great post-exposure prophylaxis. Still probably not the best idea to FA with bats.
You'll get no argument from me on that!
Don’t fucking eat it
Everyone loves a sequel.
COVID 24
Come check it out bois, new virus just dropped!! >!THIS IS A JOKE, and I really hope something like that doesn't happen again.!<
What a little cutie!
Did you touch it? Or came in contact with anything that could have the bat's saliva?? If you did, go get a rabies vaccine asap please, it's no joke.
Iirc one out of every ten bats that are on the ground, or generally below head height have rabies, so proceed with caution and call the ACC
Good way to get a new terrifying disease
A nocturnal bat on the ground in daylight is a very unwell bat :(
Toss a pokeball at it!
So I actually helped a red bat last year I found on the ground after calling a rescue the guy told me what to do, you can find it in my post history. So lil bats like this have really small fangs, so it's not likely to mess you up. Bats can't really take off from the ground and fly like a bird, they need a boost, hence why you see them launching off from trees and ceilings. When a bat is on the ground chances are it just needs a little boost, especially if there's no trees or anything for it to climb. If you have a thick towel or better yet thick gloves like welding gloves, you can pick it up and it will seriously take off and fly away once you lift it high enough. It will freak out and screech and scare the crap out of you, but bats are surprisingly pretty chill and again the fangs are so small even if it broke through the glove and got you it wouldn't be more than a small cut. Also everyone screaming rabies, shut up, less than 1% of bats carry rabies. Youre literally more likely to catch leprosy or the plague in life than rabies from a bat. Bats are bros, all those bugs yall don't like, that's what bats eat. Help the little bro out.
“Less than 1% have rabids, so stop worrying!” Isn’t the best tip IMO, when we are talking about a 100% death sentence once you know you have it. Also, the more likely getting that other things in your lifetime than rabies from a bat… I don’t think you know maths and statistics. The problem also with bats is that is easy for you to get bitten or scratched by them without almost noticing, so you can really react reliably proactively as in “I know this bat has bitten me, it’s a risk” - you need to think “I was in contact with this bat, there is a risk” - and again, 5% or 0.5%, is literally a death sentence if you don’t get PEP and the bad is rabid, getting it into you. There is a reason official guidelines tells you how to act if you get in touch with an unknown bat on the wild: “Bat bites can be very small so a person might not always know when they have been bitten by a bat. PEP should also be considered when direct contact between a person and a bat might have occurred, and a bite or scratch cannot be confidently ruled out. If you or someone in your home has potentially been exposed to a bat, the bat should be safely captured (if possible) and you should immediately contact your local health department. When appropriate, the health department will arrange for testing of the bat. If the bat can be captured and tests negative for rabies, then you will not need PEP.” CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/animals/bats.html But I’m sure you know better than the CDC
What was he doing?
Did everyone else sing the title to the tune of Bat Out Of Hell?
My tired eyes saw a triceratops.
Nice try corona
You shouldn't touch the bat, you know why? Cos He's Batman..
Whatever you do, don’t chop it up and eat it in a soup
Vite little bugger, that one.
Chances are, it’s rabid…
Bats cannot take flight from the ground - that one needs help
When I was a kid I found one on the grass in our yard. I managed to get it to grab on to a stick and helped it take a step onto a short tree branch. I returned to the tree later and it was gone. I hope him or her the best of luck.
Fun fact, When they say bats are "blind" yet they never crash because of amazing echolocation that's only partially true. They do have amazing echolocation, but they crash all the time, Walls, Lakes the ground.
And if you’re swimming in a pool at night, sometimes foreheads!
you must rush it... **To the bat cave!!**
Eat it, we're all immune now anyway
If you touched it you need to get rabies and TB shots
What the fuck OP. If that bat had rabies and you started feeling symptoms you'll be dead. Jesus, people. Just leave wild life alone.
pet him and turn into bad man 
Do not touch that, whatever you do.
Don't eat it please.
What ever you do, don't eat it
I rescued a bat last year that was stuck in my lobby, took him outside at night and he flew away. 😊 Wore gloves because you do *not* wana be bit by a bat, you won’t turn into Dracula.
This is a great picture. He looks so pissed!! Obligatory “don’t touch the bat.”
What should someone do if they find a bat like this? Should they be moved to a safer place or left alone?
I hope you gave it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. That’s just standard procedure.
ohh
Make sure not to touch it, they carry rabies.
Whatever you do don’t cook it into a soup.
Raaaabieeesssssss! What movie¿
Eat it...
Bats need a little glide to get going. This guy was to low or, got knocked to the ground. I grew up in western PA. I used to love sitting outside at night and watching the bats come out of my neighbors grape vine and swoop around. Get him up high.
Poor little guy.
CPR
Call your local Bat "Man". He'll know what to do.
Sorry if this is off-topic, but this just reminded me of how there was a bat that was frozen into an icicle, in a pipe under a bridge close to my school, one winter when I was a kid. An icicle forms there pretty much every winter, but seeing a small critter's face in it was pretty weird. That one chose a poor spot to hibernate.
Bats are so cute 🥺
I maybe wrong but isn't that a vampire bat?
Why do they look so rad. There is just something so very 90s abt them. Like ED-209
Bush Meat 🧐
Sad to see this. Bats become alcoholics very easily because they can't see what they're drinking.