Jacquelyn Gill

A fun reminder that a loss of 60,000 jobs in and around academia is ~50% more than all coal mining jobs in the entire country.

And I took available precautions when transporting the bat out of the house. I follow the guidance of the state health department, my mammal-handling colleagues, and my medical providers.

It’s a 1950’s steel kitchen cabinet system. I think from the back? The floor vent for the central air is right next to it, so it may have come up from the basement? It’s a mystery! We found one way they get into the people part of the house (a gap in a closet upstairs, but haven’t found the rest.

Sex testing is officially back in sports -- which is a huge bummer and also contradicts so much ethics, human rights law, and actual science. More on all that (and the history) on my podcast Tested: www.tested-podcast.com

I’d do the same in that case!

I would have in that case, but also: that sounds adorable!

The state of Maine recommends peaceful cohabitation as the best practice. As you can see, it’s not uncommon for a bat to find its way into an old house. A bat’s presence is not an indication that it’s rabid and seeking out prey.

So, my home is from 1911. There are bats living in my roof/walls, which is common in New England. It’s even illegal to move them. They sometimes enter the people part of the house as lost juveniles or following air currents on hot days. This is a widespread occurrence in old houses in summer.

There’s a difference between respecting wildlife and having everyone’s first thought be “rabies!” when they see a photo of a bat.

This one was sleeping in the drawer. I think it came up through a vent somehow. They sometimes get into the basement via an opening in the wall above.

a man with a beard is standing in a dark room holding a camera and saying yes . Alt: The vampire Laszlo from What We Do in the Shadows nodding and saying “yes!”

Ha!

Had the bat landed on my bare skin, bitten me, etc., I’d have gone to the doctor for PEP. Had we found it crawling around my bedroom, I’d have gone in for PEP.

Meanwhile, bats are threatened by white nose and habitat loss. Breaking down the stigma associated with bats helps protect them.

It doesn’t help that there is conflicting information from the CDC, researchers, and community health experts. But rabies transmission from bats is low, overall. 98% of rabies cases are from dog bites.

If you’ve had physical contact, treatment is recommended. If you’re a deep sleeper and/or not sure if you came in contact when one was in your room, treatment is recommended. But just finding one in your house, behaving normally, with no physical contact, is not considered a significant risk.

The risk is about 1 in 2.7 billion person-years, which is basically zero.

The internet is really wonderful sometimes. Thank you for immortalizing our winged friend.

I appreciate the concern, but I don’t need a rabies shot because I wasn’t bitten, and I wasn’t bitten because I didn’t handle the bat directly. I did state this in the second and third posts in the 3-post thread, and also multiple places in the replies.

I don’t think so. We have a 1911 bungalow.

Vocal napper
#critterposting

I love this!

I’m a big fan. We have them living in our roof and walls. They stay on their side, mostly, but sometimes get into our side of the house. Otherwise, we’d never know they were there.

I’m glad they’re protected, though I hope there’s support for folks who find them in the house. We have between 1-4 a year.

Ha! I like it.

It was really darling asleep!

I respect that. I just wish folks would check the replies.

What do you do if you find one, say, hanging from a curtain in your house?

I appreciate that folks are concerned about my health. I’d hoped my footnote would prevent dozens of folks telling me to get a rabies shot. The bat wasn’t handled directly. We removed the drawer, covered it, and carried it outside. The bat was asleep until I evicted it. We both wore leather gloves.

I hear you! For me, it was Pet Cemetery. But I also live in Stephen King’s own Derry, so…

I did not handle the bat, and the bat was not active during the day. She was asleep in my drawer. I covered the drawer, pulled it out, and brought it outside. We remove bats from our house 1-4 times a year.

Thank you for taking care of them!