Report a Bat
You can help us help our Central Coast bats by using one of our 4 reporting forms. This is also one of the easiest ways to help as a Community Scientist in our
Community Science Bat Conservation Program!
Using these links, you can:
Note: If a person or domestic animal has been exposed to a bite, scratch, or saliva from a dead or live bat,
call your Public Health Department, doctor, or emergency care provider.
If you have found a dead bat, please make sure you follow safety precautions in order for us to collect the specimen. Here’s how to preserve your bat until we arrive to retrieve it:
1. Using disposable gloves or a washable implement (tongs, large forceps, etc.),
place the bat in an oversized sealable plastic bag or disposable container.
2. Place the bag or container in a freezer.
3. Dispose of gloves and/or wash collecting implement with disinfectant soap and/or bleach.
Next, please complete the following form to report your dead bat.
Unless we're working out-of-town, we will contact you within 24 hours.
We strive to retrieve every preserved specimen within 48 hours of receiving your report if you live on California's Central Coast.
Note: If a person or domestic animal has been exposed to a bite, scratch, or saliva from a dead or live bat,
call your Public Health Department, doctor, or emergency care provider.
All our Central Coast bats feed on insects (some glean, some capture insects in flight, some even specialize in terrestrial prey, including Jerusalem Crickets and scorpions!). Typically, our bats are active between dusk and dawn. In North America, bats are observed primarily during the spring, summer, and fall. However, due to our mild Central Coast winters, bats can be active here year-round, especially following warm, sunny days.
Bats observed during the day or otherwise showing unusual behaviors – for example, erratic flight or inability to fly - may be diseased. These individuals are of extreme interest to us, AND your report may help save a bat, a bat roost, or even a local bat population.
Please use the following form to report a bat or bats showing unusual behavior, including as above:
a bat or bats having trouble flying;
a bat or bats flying during the daytime;
a bat or bats that has/have white fungus growing on the face or wings.
(at or near your home, that you’ve found on a hike, or where you’ve seen bats emerging from a local building)
Report a Pallid Bat Night Roost (On this Pallid Bat reporting page, you’ll see a description that will let you know if you have a Pallid Bat night roost.)
First, if you, another person, or a domestic animal has been exposed to a bite, scratch, or saliva from a dead or live bat, please first call your local public health department. Although exposure to rabies is extremely uncommon and far less common than the potential for exposure from other animal bites (e.g., dogs, cats, raccoons, foxes, skunks), it is better to be safe than sorry.
In the event of a bite or scratch, DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT YOUR Public Health Department, doctor, or emergency care provider. You DO NOT NEED TO FEAR the possibility of that painful series of 21 painful injections you may have heard about when you were growing up. Since the mid-1980s, an injection has been available that consists of just four small shots given over two weeks combined with several shots of immune globulin on the first day to provide antibodies until your body can start producing its own
Of course, prevention is the best medicine. We’re sure you’ve been warned many times that it is unwise to make contact with ANY wild (or unknown) animal unless you have specific training (and, when required, permits or even a rabies titre*).
facilities
*Ever wonder how bat scientists, rehabbers, and others work with bats in spite of potential exposure to rabies? What about your veterinarian and those who work at animal rescue facilities, who are at a much greater risk of encountering a rabid animal? Typically, they all receive a pre-exposure immunization that is administered in three doses over a 28-day period.
The injection is virtually the same vaccine as mentioned above; however, a person who is exposed but has never been immunized against rabies will receive four doses of the rabies vaccine – one dose right away and additional doses on the ensuing third, seventh, and fourteenth days. They will also get another shot called Rabies Immune Globulin at the same time as the first dose.
So now, let’s get started reporting your bat(s)!
(at or near your home, that you’ve found on a hike, or where you’ve seen bats emerging from a local building)
Report a Pallid Bat Night Roost (On this Pallid Bat reporting page, you’ll see a description that will let you know if you have a Pallid Bat night roost.)
First, if you, another person, or a domestic animal has been exposed to a bite, scratch, or saliva from a dead or live bat, please first call your local public health department. Although exposure to rabies is extremely uncommon and far less common than the potential for exposure from other animal bites (e.g., dogs, cats, raccoons, foxes, skunks), it is better to be safe than sorry.
In the event of a bite or scratch, DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT YOUR Public Health Department, doctor, or emergency care provider. You DO NOT NEED TO FEAR the possibility of that painful series of 21 painful injections you may have heard about when you were growing up. Since the mid-1980s, an injection has been available that consists of just four small shots given over two weeks combined with several shots of immune globulin on the first day to provide antibodies until your body can start producing its own
Of course, prevention is the best medicine. We’re sure you’ve been warned many times that it is unwise to make contact with ANY wild (or unknown) animal unless you have specific training (and, when required, permits or even a rabies titre*).
facilities
*Ever wonder how bat scientists, rehabbers, and others work with bats in spite of potential exposure to rabies? What about your veterinarian and those who work at animal rescue facilities, who are at a much greater risk of encountering a rabid animal? Typically, they all receive a pre-exposure immunization that is administered in three doses over a 28-day period.
The injection is virtually the same vaccine as mentioned above; however, a person who is exposed but has never been immunized against rabies will receive four doses of the rabies vaccine – one dose right away and additional doses on the ensuing third, seventh, and fourteenth days. They will also get another shot called Rabies Immune Globulin at the same time as the first dose.
So now, let’s get started reporting your bat(s)!