Northern Ontario family driven batty by unwanted visitor

Morning North11:43What should you do if you find a bat flying around in your home?

Getting rid of a bat in your house is not as straightforward as you might think. We heard from a Sudbury family who had a bat flittering around their home for days.

After Julie Townsend found a bat flying over her son's bunk bed, she learned she would have to catch it herself.

Townsend, who lives inthe Lively area of Greater Sudbury, called every pest control business she could find online.

They all told her they don't kill bats because they are a protected species in Ontario. Capturing them alive also turned out to be a specialized job.

"And there's only one company in Sudbury that does it," Townsend said.

"They're super busy because I found out later they're the only company north of Barrie that handles bat removal as well as bat-proofing the house."

Townsend's next call was to Public Health Sudbury and Districts, who recommended her entire family get the rabies vaccine in case the bat was infected.

Earlier this year a man from southern Ontario was bitten by a bat in northern Ontario's Temiskaming District, and later tested positive for rabies. It was Ontario's first human case of rabies in 50 years.

"Apparently, like, bat bites you can't even see them," Townsend said.

In addition to the vaccines, the health unit told Townsend she should bring the bat to a veterinarian who could see if it had rabies.

But the bat had seemingly disappeared by that point.

"A few days go by and we keep looking," Townsend said.

"My husband gets home from work that night. He looks again and still can't find the bat. And a few days go by. I wake up again at six in the morning. I'm up in the kitchen with the kids and it's in the kitchen at this point."

Townsend's father lent her family a fishing net to catch the bat.

It was her husband who managed to catch the bat while it was perched on some curtains in the living room.

"And then I got cardboard, we put it underneath and we put it in a box," she said.

They brought it to the Walden Animal Hospital where the bat was euthanized; they can legally be killed under Ontario's Health Protection and Promotion Act so they can be tested for rabies.

The bat tested negative, which saved Townsend and her family from requiring additional rabies shots.

Rachel O'Donnell, an environmental support officer with the Sudbury-Manitoulin health unit, said they only test bats for rabies if they suspect people were exposed to that animal.

O'Donnell said that if someone has a bat in their home they should contact a pest control professional to have it removed.

"Public health doesn't have the expertise in live animal captures, so we wouldn't necessarily provide guidance on that," she said.

From her experience with a bat in her home, Townsend learned that "there's obviously a business opportunity for people who want to remove bats from houses."