A great story Bob! I grew up beyond phobic of bats due to a lack of good information being found in my "kinfolk" about reality versus myth.
Up until about 7 years ago when we started in this new line of work and began working to educate ourselves on bats I still held that terrible
info as the truth.
In our area we used to have a rehabber we could take the occasional injured bat or found pup to, she became a good friend and colleague
and referred us exclusion type clients as well.
When she moved away we became the local source of rehab, first year only 3 total bats, all silver-haired bats, but taught us an immense amount
about their behavior.
One big thing that we know comes up with lots of wildlife species and how john and jane public perceive animals is the idea of "defensive" versus
"aggressive."
I get reports of "aggressive" in skunk, coyote, raccoon, and yes bat in my area and generally when questions are asked, there is actually no "aggressive"
indication whatsoever, the animal just stood and didn't run off like folks expect a wild animal to, and often this is in an urban or suburban area of course
where habituation and comfort with people, cars, odors, etc... takes place.
I can't say how many people have called for advice having seen a bat flying in the park while walking the dog. Many of them ran to their car some even
falling down and hurting their legs or bodies while running from this tiny flying mammal who was out chasing breakfast in the park. Often as I explain no
risk in their scenario with zero contact, they start to chuckle at the idea they ran from it, but it brings up this idea that has been proliferated in our society
and culture on bats.
Yes bats can get rabies, but factually how they pass it on requires contact and a need for the right type of contact.
I've rehabbed along with my wife more than 8 species of bats, most of which aren't found in northern or midwestern states, including Pallid bats who have
a serious set of teeth designed for taking down scorpions and large centipedes we get out here, along with sphynx moths and so forth.
Every bat species has a different behavior when a human being or any predator (which is what we are in their mind at first blush) makes contact or gets close
to them.
If they are warm enough and not in deep daily torpor they of course will take flight more often than not, which makes for a rough night if you are chasing them around
inside someones house. But if they aren't ready to fly we get lots of calls where a bat is roosting above a door to someones home or just in a place where
the folks don't have a comfort level to be okay leaving them there. We do a simple capture, hold for a night and release the next day if no injuries, etc...
We take the time to explain to the homeowners with bat in cloth or other buffer material the nature of bats, the safety measures needed for both human and bat
to remain alive and well and some things about whatever species it is life history and biology.
So many people in our trade promote fear with imagery that has a gaping big brown bat who is quite obviously acting defensively, people who are already scared are now
further ready to drop their cash, check book and credit card on the table and let you write down a number.
I make good money and have excellent clients performing bat exclusion and mitigation, surveys, you name it and love working with bats, by far and away the most amazing group
of species I've had the pleasure of working with in my life both federal and private.
We are fortunate here to have 29-31 (a few species show up the last few years showing range expansion who add to our base of 29 species) of bat, all unique and diverse from what they eat, where they choose to roost and how they behave both on the landscape and those who come into rehab needing care.
I never ever downplay rabies, or the risk of rabies in handling any north american mammal, especially the rabies vector species. We do however have more myths than facts in our North American society about bats and so I'm glad you shared your story.
Not because it is something we'd any of us encourage a homeowner to do in terms of living with a bat or wild animal running or flying around their home, rabies risk or not, but because a separation of people and wild things is generally a healthy thing for both parties.
This winter we rehabbed and overwintered (bats that come in midwinter are held till spring for release once temps resume) 29 total bats of 6 different species. I'm of the mind if most wildlife professionals had some time with a quality licensed rehabber to be around bats in a setting that is calm and not anxiety inducing as many "need to catch this bat flying around these folks living room while they watch freaked out" settings, there would be a better overall bat exclusion and management culture that would help the public learn what they need to about safety, while not creating hype or hysteria.
On a daily basis your chances of falling down stairs and dying (or having a heart attack from the yoga pants scenario, lol) are thousands or tens of thousands of times greater than having a bat give you rabies and that leading to your death.
Sadly many folks in the general public still will pick up bare handed a bat while they wouldn't a raccoon, skunk, or fox or coyote, as the bat often seems small and fairly defenseless. Then they stroll to the door of the house and as they head outdoors the bat squirms to escape, they squeeze a bit to restrain it and bam, the bite happens as the bat is thinking predator while the human isn't thinking....
If people simply didn't pickup or try to capture bats without proper barriers the risk in this mammal with less than 1/2 of 1% of its wild populations being those who contract rabies in the first place, would be of little consequence.
For anyone believing the "bite without knowing it" scenario, don't just go read the articles written to hype it for the sunday morning paper or evening news. Go read the actual CDC case files deep in the archive with all the notes!
Cases where "we don't know how they got bitten" are called "cryptic cases" and they have zero facts pointing to a bat landing and biting without a human involved reason for the bite. Trust me I've read them over and over.
Some of the folks didn't have any bite at all, but a doctor with zero experience with bats said, this mark I found on you with my magnifying glass looks worrisome, I'm going to provide the shots, other cases a whole group of folks saw a moth hit a lady in the face, she felt they were all wrong despite dead moths of this color and size all over the campground, her doc gave her shots as he felt she had "bat scratches" on her face!
Now to be clear, I don't put down the doctors, they have serious liability with a life threatening virus, but factually rabies is something they only know is fatal and they really don't need to know anything else! That makes sense to me, but it doesn't mean when you get shots, you required shots.
If you weren't exposed to rabies and you get shots, guess what? You live!
If you were and you get shots, guess what you live!
So shots doesn't equal exposure!
****
Side bar away from your story, but again Bob appreciate you sharing it, bats once folks get to work with them in a variety of ways and see them and their life history and traits in a better calmer setting makes them something that they were not made out to be.
Sunday morning rant, but overall just wanted to say thanks for sharing the positive story! With white-nose syndrome having killed and continuing (just found within 120 miles of my state border now) bats by the millions, bats need folks to get educated on the facts.
Best,
Justin
