WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Several families tell 7 News they\u2019ve found bats in their homes. So what should you do if you find yourself with an unwanted flying guest? <\/p>\n
According to Jefferson County Public Health, this time of year, an increased number of bats make their way into homes, often unintentionally. A bat wreaked havoc in the Fregoe household after flying in through an open window. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was like that\u2019s pretty cool. I\u2019d never seen a bat before,\u201d said Aiden Fregoe. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen my son told me there\u2019s a bat in the house, I was like, no, not again. I\u2019m not dealing with this again. I was still traumatized from the last time. I am not doing this again,\u201d said Meagan Fregoe. <\/p>\n
While it\u2019s uncommon, bats can carry rabies. If one makes its way into your home, Jefferson County Rabies Control Coordinator Jeff Leiendecker says the best thing to do is capture it. A video telling you exactly what to do can be found on the Jefferson County Public Health website.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone finds a bat in their home, we want them to take precautions. Try to isolate it in a room. Ideally, if they\u2019re able to safely contain the bat, wear gloves. Cover up. Avoid direct contact with the bat,\u201d said Leindecker.<\/p>\n
He points out that it\u2019s important to simply capture, and not kill, the bat. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it does need to be tested for public health needs to protect people at the home, we want to make sure it isn\u2019t crushed because it needs to be a relatively intact specimen for the lab to test it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Also, make sure to keep your pets\u2019 rabies vaccines up to date, even if they live strictly indoors. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s public health law for one. The reason for that is we don\u2019t want a pet to become a bridge of exposure of rabies. From a wild animal to a pet, to a person,\u201d said Leindecker.<\/p>\n
Leindecker reiterates, the most important thing to do in the event of a bat invasion is to contact your county\u2019s public health office. An operator there will know what to do. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 WWNY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Several families tell 7 News they\u2019ve found bats in their homes. So what…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[61517,316,27995,881,3649,159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-144097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-bat","9":"tag-home","10":"tag-jefferson-county","11":"tag-public-health","12":"tag-rabies","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115025062384702476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}