ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Bats outside are completely normal in the St. Louis area. Bats inside our homes, schools, and businesses are far less common. In the past few weeks, there's been an increase in calls to St. Louis County Animal Control for people needing help getting the winged mammal out of their homes.
"We have seen an increase and I'm not sure what the increase is attributable to," said Senior Epidemiologist and Supervisor for the Communicable Disease Investigation Program at the St. Louis County Department of Public Health Amanda Brzozowski. "Is it that there are more bats? More active bats? Is it that people now know that they can call animal control and tell us they have bats?"
The calls have kept the St. Louis County Health Department and Animal Control busy.
"We have done dozens and dozens in the past couple weeks of having bats sent for testing."
Three bats tested positive for rabies. This is concerning, but if you've had a bat in your home recently, do not panic.
"Rabies is not an emergency," said Brzozowski. "They can wait for this bat to be tested before running out to get rabies shots."
There is a concern if no one knows exactly how and when the bat got inside. Brzozowski says it is possible to be bit by a bat and not know.
"You don't really know and we try to ask people to think about; Are you a heavy sleeper?" Brzozowski said. "Did you have a glass of wine before bed? Is there anyone in the room that can't speak like a baby or something like that? Do your cats sleep with you and they wake up every time anything moves in the room? We ask people to think about all those things and that will help them assess their potential risk."
Based on risk, some people will be advised to get a preventative rabies shot.
"You actually have time to wait until you start showing symptoms; you can get vaccinated any time up until that point," said Brzozowski.
While all this bat talk is a bit scary, the Missouri Department of Conservation wants you to know when bats are outside, they are quite helpful.
"They really love to eat mosquitos so the more bats there are the less mosquitos there are," St. Louis Region Media Specialist for the Missouri Department of Conservation Dan Zarlenga said. "But they also eat a lot of insects too and the other insects they like to eat are a lot of crop pests."
Like it or not, bats are a beneficial and important part of the St. Louis area ecosystem. Zarlenga says there are about 14 bat species that are indigenous to Missouri. Not one of those species is blood-sucking, so bites are unlikely and incredibly uncommon here.
Most bats in Missouri are considered endangered or vulnerable to extinction and are protected by state law.