{"id":617,"date":"2020-01-27T21:16:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T21:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kesvn.dev\/?page_id=617"},"modified":"2021-01-22T22:34:07","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T22:34:07","slug":"are-bats-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/batcontrolspecialists.com\/are-bats-dangerous\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Bats Dangerous?"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/HgZ8MrZ2jWk” el_width=”60″ align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1580159438550{margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1586435996392{padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n
Are Bats Really Dangerous?<\/p>\n
Every year we receive thousands of phone calls from homeowners across Ontario who discover bats inside their home. Many find them inside their bedroom or wake up to a bat flying around the heads.<\/p>\n
Some of these people call me and ask are bats really dangerous? Good Question,<\/p>\n
The answer is no, they are not dangerous, but if you find a bat in your bedroom or your kids<\/p>\n
bedroom you are going to call your local health unit and ask about rabies shots.<\/p>\n
Now the reason I can say bats are not dangerous and don\u2019t pose a health risk is because If you live in Ontario and find a bat inside your home its most likely a big brown bat and statistically speaking these bats are not dangerous.
\nAnd North Americas least dangerous and most abundant bat species the big brown lives quietly<\/p>\n
in millions of houses, across Ontario. So having bats is not only not really dangerous it\u2019s<\/p>\n
common.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that more than 95% of all residential bat colonies in Ontario are big brown bats.<\/p>\n
Most enter and exit buildings high up and only need a tiny gap to squeeze into your roof.<\/p>\n
Bats are quiet, nocturnal and most of their colonies are quite small, which makes it easy for<\/p>\n
them to live in our houses unnoticed. I suppose you could say that having bats living in your<\/p>\n
walls and attic is dangerous but most of the time the homeowner is not even aware of the<\/p>\n
danger. How dangerous is it to have a small colony of bats living undetected in your home?<\/p>\n
Well my opinion is that its not really dangerous at all. Yes they can carry rabies. Yes they can be<\/p>\n
covered in a bed bug like insect called bat bugs. (which are not dangerous to humans as they<\/p>\n
can only live off of bats)<\/p>\n
In fact most homeowners only discover they have a \u201cdangerous\u201d bat problem when one shows<\/p>\n
up inside their home.<\/p>\n
Now this would seem to be dangerous and yes it is possible that you could be bitten by a bat<\/p>\n
with rabies. But millions of bat show up inside houses every year and rarely ever bite people. In<\/p>\n
fact most are lost and scared and not looking to attack us. Most bites occur when people pick up<\/p>\n
the bat deliberately or accidentally.<\/p>\n
While many homeowners assume the bat came in a door or window, bats show up inside<\/p>\n
houses because they generally live in the walls (not attics, which are too hot in summer and too<\/p>\n
cold in winter). After entering the roof they use gaps beside plumbing pipes and chimneys to get<\/p>\n
into the walls and often can travel all the way down the wall to an unfinished space like a<\/p>\n
basement or furnace room. Once inside they move from room to room by crawling under doors.<\/p>\n
That is why they show up in bedrooms.<\/p>\n
Homeowners who find bats in their bedrooms and will wonder if possibly someone was bitten<\/p>\n
The problem is the mouths and teeth of these bats are so tiny that people can\u2019t be necessarily<\/p>\n
know for sure they have been bitten. However There have only been 3 confirmed rabies deaths<\/p>\n
attributed to big brown bats in North American history and never one in Ontario.<\/p>\n
But if you ask me do i think you should be treated if you think its possible you were bitten by a<\/p>\n
bat? Heck yes. Its that kind of Paranoia that keeps the rabies death rate so low in Canada. if<\/p>\n
you find a bat in your bedroom or your kids bedroom you are going to CALL YOUR PUBLIC<\/p>\n
HEALTH UNIT AND ASK ABOUT rabies shots.<\/p>\n
The only way to stop bats from showing up inside you living space and bedrooms is to have a<\/p>\n
specialist bat-proof the exterior and humanely exclude them.<\/p>\n
And Bat proofing a house is not simple or inexpensive. The real danger here is that hundreds of<\/p>\n
unqualified exterminators and wildlife control companies regularly try and fail to batproof<\/p>\n
houses. The biggest danger when dealing with a bat problem is that you are in danger of being<\/p>\n
ripped off. People also spend millions of dollars on useless \u201crepellers\u201d which never work. The<\/p>\n
manufacturers of these useless devices (for bats anyways) sell you a dangerous false sense of<\/p>\n
security.<\/p>\n
The makers of these dangerously useless (to your pocketbook anyways) have been sued in<\/p>\n
every decade since the 1970s (repeatedly) by government agencies. They pay a big fine<\/p>\n
and admit no wrongdoing and add a little bit of warning to their fine print and go on selling their<\/p>\n
dangerous illusions of safety and efficacy. Government agencys are also more of a danger here<\/p>\n
as they use the money from the \u201cfine\u201d they levy to fund themselves and very little money is ever<\/p>\n
given back to consumers. Dangerously incompetent and selfish government is a danger<\/p>\n
indeed.<\/p>\n
But If you find a bat inside your home its is extremely likely that at some point you will get more.<\/p>\n
Because big browns generally don\u2019t live alone and leave scent trails others can follow and once<\/p>\n
they discover a way in, they will keep coming back. How often that will happen is anyones<\/p>\n
guess.<\/p>\n
If you cannot afford bat-proofing there are steps you can take to mitigate the danger and limit<\/p>\n
the number of bats showing up in your living spaces and keep them out of your families<\/p>\n
bedrooms while you sleep.<\/p>\n