{"id":89065,"date":"2025-08-17T07:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T07:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/89065\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T07:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T07:54:07","slug":"henderson-county-officials-warn-of-rising-indoor-bat-encounters-urge-safety-measures-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/89065\/","title":{"rendered":"Henderson County officials warn of rising indoor bat encounters, urge safety measures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>County officials in Henderson County are warning residents of an increase in bat sightings indoors.<\/p>\n<p>According to Andrew Mundhenk, the spokesperson for the Henderson County Department of Public Health, the county is seeing an increase in calls from residents in the Hendersonville area.<\/p>\n<p>Numerous bat encounters are now prompting officials to highlight safety reminders when it comes to the potential risks of bat exposure, no matter what county you live in.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/news\/local\/north-carolina-wildlife-resources-commission-officials-urge-bear-safety-injured-buncombe-county-emergency-room-danger\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/news\/local\/north-carolina-wildlife-resources-commission-officials-urge-bear-safety-injured-buncombe-county-emergency-room-danger\" class=\"themeColorForLinks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NC WILDLIFE OFFICIALS URGE BEAR SAFETY AFTER MAN WAS INJURED DURING AN ENCOUNTER<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExposure reports we\u2019ve received were from summer camps,\u201d Mundhenk said. \u201cDuring the summer camp season, when a camper would wake up and find a bat flying around in their cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bats are a rabies vector species and are primarily nocturnal, but can be seen foraging for food around dawn and dusk.<\/p>\n<p>Mundhenk tells News 13, human-bat encounters are on the rise.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s very important that the community is aware that bats can carry rabies,&#8221; Mundhenk added. &#8220;In Henderson County, we have received 21 bats exposure reports, 16 of those bats were able to be tested, and 2 of them were tested positive rabies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mundhenk says to never touch a bat with bare hands, and if a bat is found in a room, keep a safe distance without contact and contact the proper authorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo prevent having bats go inside the attic or other space, make sure you seal cracks and the chimney, and windows,\u201d Mundhenk said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/news\/local\/coexist-black-bear-population-wnc-defenders-wildlife-bearwise-basics-community-national-nonprofit-conservation-program\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/news\/local\/coexist-black-bear-population-wnc-defenders-wildlife-bearwise-basics-community-national-nonprofit-conservation-program\" class=\"themeColorForLinks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BEARWISE BASICS: HOW TO COEXIST WITH THE GROWING BLACK BEAR POPULATION IN WNC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mundhenk advises that if your pet has been exposed to a bat or any other possible animal that could have rabies, and you were bitten, you should seek medical attention immediately.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The number one thing is that you seek medical attention or your health care provider so you can get that post-exposure prophylaxis started, and after that, you would contact animal control to see if they would be able to capture that bat or the animal,\u201d Mundhenk said.<\/p>\n<p>Tips:<\/p>\n<p>Avoid Contact: Do not touch or try to capture a bat found indoors.If you cannot safely remove the bat or if there has been contact, contact your local health unit or a wildlife control professional.Report Dead Bats: Report any dead bats found on your property to the health unit, as they can be tested for rabies.<\/p>\n<p>Per the North Carolina Wildlife Commission, you cannot evict bats between May 1 and July 31 during their annual pup-rearing season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"County officials in Henderson County are warning residents of an increase in bat sightings indoors. According to Andrew&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[60960,60962,49755,5599,39142,60961,79,60963,201,32142],"class_list":["post-89065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-bat-encounters","tag-exposure-reports","tag-henderson-county","tag-public-health","tag-rabies","tag-safety-measures","tag-science","tag-summer-camps","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-officials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}