Be carefull cat owners. Dumb thing I did.

[MossRoad]

I wish you well.

Several years ago we had a bat in the house while the kids were sleeping with their bedroom doors open. I caught the bat alive and called the health department. They said to call the humane society. The humane society came out from across the county, took the bat, and drove it a couple blocks to MY veterinarian. He's the one that euthanizes them, packs them on dry ice, puts them on the bus to Indy for the bat lab to test.

I ask the health department what happens next? They said the bat lab will call us if it tests positive for rabies.

I ask what if it tests negative? They don't call if it tests negative.

I ask how do I know they ever tested it????? CRICKETS!!!! Apparently no on had ever asked that question.

I tell them I want to know if it tests negative. Health department says they'll check.

A few days go by, nothing. I call again. Tell health department I'll wait on the phone while they call the Indy bat lab. They call Indy bat lab. No one knows where our bat is and our entire family will have to get shots.

I call my Vet. He's furious, as he not only sent our bat that day, but a few other familys' bats. They send 3-4 bats a week to be tested.

Health department, humane society, my vet, and I all start making calls.

My vet finds out someone signed for it in Indy. But the Indy bat lab has been closed for weeks for remodeling. They have been sending the bats to Kentucky for testing.

I google Kentucky Rabies Bat and come up with the bat program in Kentucky, make a call, and get in touch with the head of the rabies program in Kentucky and tell him the saga. He personally goes looking for my bat, finds it, tests it, and it comes back negative. We don't have to get shots. I ask about the other family's
bats. Due to HIPPA laws, he can't tell me.

Follow up, they lost the other familys' bats and they had to get rabies shots. We got the state to change how they process bats. Now you drop them off at the humane society, pay $50, they send it down for testing and the state has to notify you either way positive or negative.

What a mess.

Again, good luck to you. I hope it was the same racoon.

 

[radios1]

Glad it worked out for you John White!

I hope it REALLY was the SAME 'COON.


.

+1. you can't be sure of that, but you can be sure that if you show symptoms, it's too late!.

 

[Jstpssng]

Glad it worked out for you John White!

I hope it REALLY was the SAME 'COON.


.

It sounds like they don't have a rabies problem in his area, so he should be OK. (?)

+1. you can't be sure of that, but you can be sure that if you show symptoms, it's too late!.

 

[EddieWalker]

With so many people passing the buck, and so many agencies that refused to do anything, I kept waiting for the punch line. I just couldn't believe that this was a real story and not a joke. Pretty disappointing that you contacted that many people and not a single one of them would do anything to help you.

 

[Jstpssng]

I contacted the USDA when I thought (correctly) that I might have shot a rabid skunk; I told them where I left it in a grain bag and they sent somebody to pick it up. It wasn''t more than a couple of days later that they called and made sure that nobody had actually handled it, and that I had taken steps to clean it up.

 

[radios1]

With so many people passing the buck, and so many agencies that refused to do anything, I kept waiting for the punch line. I just couldn't believe that this was a real story and not a joke. Pretty disappointing that you contacted that many people and not a single one of them would do anything to help you.

it depends on where you live!..

 

[Sigarms]

Update on coon: Mon. I called the local county health again telling them I had caught the coon. Here is your Govt. at work. They said I would have to kill it and cut off the head. I told them I wasn't crazy about cutting the head off. They said stop by the County dog warden and he would do it. I stopped by and seen him and acted he would rather cut my head off and not the coons. He said he would not do it. Told me to call the Ohio wildlife officer. I finally got ahold of them and explained the situation. They said they would not do it. They referred me to the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture. They said they would not do it. I finally climbed up the chain of command and got ahold of the man who does the rabies testing. I explained the situation again and said it was my County health dept. responsible for killing it and cutting head off and said he would call them. I asked when was the last time he had tested a rabid coon from our county. He said never, and said they had a report of a few in Eastern Ohio county and one in Cleve. metro park. He called my health dept again and Tues night they gave me the name of a vet that would put it to sleep and detach the head. I called them and they said no way would they do it. So after getting the runaround I finally had to do it myself. No easy chore cutting a coons hear off. Just like cutting on a rubber tire. Took head to health dept Wed. and they sent it in and I got a call a couple hours ago saying it was negative for rabies. I had met with my doctor again this Tues. and he said I really took a chance, said I rolled the dice and come up a winner. I just took all the facts I had and made a decision. It could have went the other way. My wife was under a lot of stress and couldn't understand why I did it. If I had known from the beginning that they had never tested a coon with rabies from our county right away it wouldn't have led to all this. Thanks for all who posted and were concerned. "Wiley Coyote lives another day".

Assuming that story is true, I do think it would make for a good news article. Hopefully you kept track of everyone's name and their position so you can relate that story to your local news.

It's newsworthy when state/goverment agencies don't do their job IMO.