Residents warned about flying rodents

The Hill County sanitarian said a local animal that helps keep down pests needs to be left alone, especially since tests recently confirmed that one was found with rabies.

“Because Hill County currently has a positive case of rabies in a bat, everyone must make sure that their pets are current for the rabies vaccine,” Sanitarian Clay Vincent said in a press release. “I must also stress that all openings into your home be analyzed for possible ways that a bat — about the size of a mouse— can get inside. This is just a good way to keep your home safe and secure.”

Vincent said about 2 percent of bats in the area typically have rabies, and that caution should always be used. The positive test is a reminder that people should not treat them like pets or pick them up with their hands, he said.

“At this time each year, my office receives a lot of questions concerning bats because they are visibly flying around light poles and homes in the evening,” he said.

This area has several different kinds of bats, which eat hundreds or thousands of bugs each night, he said. The animals sometimes can be seen during daylight hanging on the sides of buildings, trees or in narrow spaces around homes. They like narrow cracks around screen doors or window frames, and people need to make sure their windows have tight fitting screens, Vincent said, adding that other small openings into a house such as fireplace chimneys, or old plumbing pipes seem to be places that bats like to hang out.

Vincent again said that with 2 percent of the local bats generally carry rabies, people should leave them alone.

“Most of what they do for our area is positive, and the mosquito population would be a lot worse if we did not have them, but the possibility that a bat could be a carrier of rabies or other diseases does exist … ,” he said. “The rabies virus has always been in our environment and by being educated to possible areas of exposure, we help reduce the possibility of being exposed.”

He said that questions about bats or exposure to animals that can carry the rabies virus should be directed to the Hill County Health Department, a veterinarian or the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park office.