From the Houston Chronicle:
As two area high schools continue to deal with bat infestations, Katy school district officials said late Friday that a bat found under the bleachers at Katy Taylor High School on Wednesday night, during a football game, has tested positive for rabies.
[snip]
About 10 to 15 children were in the area where the bat was found about 5:30 p.m., during a game between McMeans Junior High and Katy Junior High.
Polimom’s watched the bat story unfold in Humble since a boy died from rabies earlier this year, but Humble is a very long way from Katy… and Polimom. Taylor High School is not (Chronicle again):
Health department officials are asking that only those people who attended the football game and came into contact with the bat come to Katy Taylor today.
We weren’t there, but Polimom knows a number of people who were.
::shiver::
Disturbing, to say the least.
Bats are actually GREAT critters for East Texas because they eat like (?) times their weight in mosquitoes a night.
That said, rabies is nothing to fool around with. What bothers me is, I don’t know if it’s a new thing that SO MANY of these creatures are carrying rabies or if it’s normal and we’re just becoming more aware. Sad, as I love bats as a wonder of nature and a natural way to keep down mosquito populations.
What’s the answer, because I sure don’t know. I wonder how many people are aware armadillos carry leprosy? Yet teachers bring them into high school classrooms often.
I’m with Laz; I like bats for skeeter control. I almost built a “bat box” to try to encourage some to nest at my place once, but it seemed like a lot of work for the mere chance that a bat might decide to move in. (It’s not like you can place an ad in Bat Monthly offering a fully furnished Bat House to let them know you have a vacancy…)
That said, this rabies thing is scary. But then, people should *know* better than to play with any wild animal that behaves unusually — e.g., lets people come anywhere near it.
Ayup. Bats have a clear role in the food chain. But also like Lazarus, I am wondering at what seems to be a LOT of these rabid bats reports.