Gerald Hanks
Who doesn’t want a man cave?
Videos by Rare
How about a bat cave?
Well, that’s sort of what one Houston man got this week when he found a dead bat outside of his Portofino Landing apartment complex in Spring.
“When I looked down and happened to see a bat on the ground,” Elliot Krolcyzk said in an interview with a local tv station, explaining further how he called the Harris County Animal Control office for the bat to be tested.
Officials with the Harris County Health Department reportedly tested the bat corpse, only to find it tested positive for rabies – a virus known to attack the central nervous system of warm-blooded animals, as well as humans, typically transmitted through saliva.
RELATED: Kids Build New Homes for Waugh Street Bats
The recent incident marks the second time this year rabid bats turned up on the property; Krolcyzk said he reported a similar incident in March, when his dog Bud brought home a bat.
Turns out, the previous bat also tested positive for rabies, reportedly forcing Krolcyzk to keep Bud under quarantine for three months until officials could be certain the dog did not catch the disease.
Krolcyzk also cited the lack of action from the apartment complex management regarding the infestation:
“I’ve had no help from the office,” Krolcyzk said in an interview a local TV station. “It’s a guarantee that someone is going to die from rabies. This is the second case of rabies within eight months.”
As if Gregg Abbott wasn't enough. Bat rabies season in Houston…. https://t.co/Sk0FOrTDGw
— Rich (@Rmiller260press) November 21, 2017
RELATED: Houston’s “Batman” Is City’s Urban Legend, But No Superhero
Krolcyzk’s fears of rabies from bats may be justified:
Katie Koenig reportedly suffered from a rabid bat bite near downtown Houston in July, eventually testing positive for rabies.
Due to her lack of insurance, she said the course of her treatment ran into thousands of dollars.
“I was told the first treatment was $4,000, and I need a series of treatments over a series of weeks, plus hospital visits on top of that,” she said in an interview with a local TV station.
Harvey displaced some of Houston’s bat colonies after the storm, but the species remains a vital part of the city’s ecological balance, working to help minimize the mosquitos after the flood.
Woman says she was bitten by rabies-positive bat near Houston's Buffalo Bayou Park https://t.co/YnR2WQ0Uqu pic.twitter.com/W7tLjQeapI
— MashNew (@mashnews) July 18, 2017
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends you to avoid bats, especially ones acting erratically, such a flying around humans or in lighted areas.
Officials say bites may be hard to detect due to their small size, but urge you to seek medical treatment if you experience an encounter.
