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Little brown bats like the one in this photo are one of the species that can be found in South Dakota. The number of bat-related calls in the Aberdeen area has increased considerably this year. Photo courtesy of J. MacGregor.
In the year of Ozzy Osbourne’s death, the number of conflicts between bats and humans in the Aberdeen area has increased noticeably.
“I have had way more bat calls than I have ever had before this year. If I had one or two bat calls a year or a summer, that would be about average. But this year, there is just a constant onslaught,” said Aberdeen Animal Control Officer John Weaver.
When he sat down for an interview on Monday, Aug. 25 just before 2 p.m., he’d already received a call to consult with a person in Redfield who had been bitten by a bat.
The bat was euthanized and sent to the South Dakota State Health Lab to have its head removed. That’s no homage to Osborne, who bit off a bat’s head during a 1982 concert, rather for it to be tested for rabies.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 2, Weaver had responded to four bat bite incidents in Aberdeen so far this year. That’s up from one in 2024.
Few bats test positive for rabies
The state lab has tested 124 bats so far this year, with four being positive for rabies, said Russ Daly, SDSU Extension veterinarian and state public health veterinarian for the South Dakota Department of Health.
That’s only 3%.
Daly
“As far as the human aspects of contact with bats, rabies is really the main thing we need to worry about. Not every bat has rabies, not even all the bats we test at the diagnostic lab have rabies. It’s not a zero risk. It’s not an every bat sort of thing,” Daly explained.
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He said the lab tests the most bats in summer as the flying mammals typically hunker down during winter.
When a bat is flopping around on the ground during the day, the risk is high for humans and their pets, he said.
“A lot of times their pets will get a hold of them and people do come in contact with bats,” Daly said.
“If we never touch the bat and it’s a dead bat, it’s not going to spread the virus to us. Anytime you have an encounter with a bat and you don’t know if it’s an exposure or not, you can have that bat tested by bringing it into a local veterinarian who will send it into the lab for testing,” he said.
Bats in homes could have entered an area where people are sleeping. That’s taken into consideration when determining whether to have the animals tested for rabies.
“I would caution people, if you have the chance, to get a timely test result on the animal,” Daly said. “If there’s a delay in bringing the animal into the lab, the brain may not be suitable for testing due to the rate at which it breaks down after death.”
The lab tests the animals immediately and returns the results within the same day, though it’s closed on weekends and holidays, he said.
Humans should seek medical care immediately after bat bite
People who have been scratched or bitten by a bat should be tested for rabies immediately.
“We do still have people in the United States die from rabies each year, and most of those are bat exposures,” Daly said. “Treatment works really well.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of people in the U.S. who die from rabies in a year is very low. The highest total in recent history was five in 2021.
Daly said there are good videos on how to safely trap a bat, though one will need to wear gloves and be very careful.
People in Aberdeen who encounter a bat and are taken aback can call animal control and an officer will respond, if there’s one available.
“There is no rhyme or reason to my life,” Waver joked. “I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the next 30 seconds, whether it’s flying monkeys attacking the mayor’s house or somebody’s found an alligator in his backyard. Who knows?”
He said most bat-related calls are from people who don’t have a lot of experience dealing with wildlife.
“And it is a scary thing, especially for older folks and for folks that have moved here and never seen a bat. But bats are not really something the city is responsible for or handles,” Weaver said. “I respond to bat calls as a courtesy because I’m aware of how unsettling and scary the situation can be. So I will show up.”
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If the bat is hanging off the wall or a curtain and within reach, Weaver said he’ll “snatch it up, take it away and relocate it”
Those who have bats in their home that can’t be located should call a professional bat removal service, he said.
It can sometimes be tricky to keep them out of homes because they can fit through a hole the size of a quarter, he said.
“Usually bats would have to have an easy access to get outside because they’ve got to eat the mosquitoes and moths and things like that. They’re beneficial in that way,” Weaver said.
“If you got a bat flying around your house, more than likely it’s evening and you opened the door and there’s lights on inside, which attracted the bat. And they’re really quick, you don’t really notice them,” he said. “They’re just mice with wings. So they can get in your house, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have an ‘Addams Family‘ attic full of bats. You just may have one or two that got lost and came in.”
For more information about rabies, call the South Dakota Animal Industry Board at 605-773-3321 or consult the Department of Health website, which has a rabies fact sheet and prevention guidelines.
