Unpopular and Maligned Animals

[Nat]

Originally Posted by RiverBoi

Bats would fit into this category. I personally think that they are kinda cute. AND I love the fact that they eat mosquito's (which is a WONDERFUL friend to have in the south) Bat's eat around 250,000 pounds of insects a night. I suppose many people are scared of them due to rabies or Ozzy lol. I haven't heard of a rabid bat swarm, targeting humans however.

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-...17_1_bat-house

The rabies thing is a deal with them, but I've had my rabies shots. I had a job for a while catching and releasing wildlife that had gotten into buildings on campus. Bat exposures were the most stressful because you often cannot tell if you've been exposed. If they brush against you, it's considered exposure. If you wake up and there's one in your room it's considered exposure. Their tiny teeth don't make much of a mark. All but one of the bats I caught were released back into the wild. But one bat I had to take down to animal control to have tested - which means killing the poor little guy. He'd crawled into a trash can, and one of the custodial staff reached into the bag and received what could have been a scratch or a bite. I'm sure it was quite a surprise to her! But the bat's little life was sacrificed to reveal no rabies. It's really sucky to drive an animal down to his own death. But rabies is serious. Once you have symptoms, you're already a goner.

I do love the cute little guys. The kind we had were the Mexican Free-tails.