Wildlife Clinic
Found an animal?

Your answer

Do not touch it. Confine the room and call for advice.

Most bats carry no disease, but bats are a rabies-vector species and a bite can be too small to notice. That combination changes the procedure: the animal must be contained without contact, and if anyone in the house was asleep in the room, a doctor needs to make the call rather than you.

What to do right now

  1. 01Get people and pets out and close the interior door.
  2. 02Open an exterior window or door if you can do it from the doorway, and give the bat twenty minutes of quiet.
  3. 03If it is on a wall and must be contained, cover it with a box using a gloved hand and slide card underneath.
  4. 04Call a rehabilitator. If anyone had contact with the bat, see a doctor today as well, and do not let the bat go — whether it can be tested changes what happens to the person.

What not to do

  • Do not handle it with bare hands, ever.
  • Do not swat it, or catch it with a towel.
  • Do not release it if a person or pet may have been bitten or was asleep in the room.

Change your mind if any of this is true

Any one of these changes the answer above. Call a rehabilitator instead.

  • Anyone was bitten, scratched, or woke to a bat in the room — this becomes a medical call.
  • It is on the ground during the day, which usually means it is sick or injured.

Get professional help

Tell us where you are — your state, then your county — and we will list the people licensed to take it there, nearest to you first. Rehabilitators are licensed by their own state, which is why we ask.

Understand the animal

Knowing why this happens is what makes the next one easier to read.