Late-Night Bat Encounter in Downtown Little Rock Sparks Rabies Testing Scramble
In a firsthand account, an unnamed resident detailed a chaotic late-night encounter with a bat inside a downtown Little Rock home that ultimately required following state health protocols, impromptu animal containment methods, and a hurried veterinary visit for four household cats. The incident, which unfolded at 11 p.m., began when the author’s cats raised a commotion in the dark, leading to the discovery of a small bat lying flat on the floor with its wings spread.
Faced with potential exposure risks and the costs associated with treatment if you’ve been exposed to a bat that might have rabies, the residents initiated a frantic effort to capture the animal for diagnostic testing. The makeshift trapping operation utilized a trash can, multiple trash bags, a sketch pad, a fitted sheet, a plastic storage container, a piece of cardboard, and an ungodly amount of duct tape. The captured bat was stowed away overnight before the household contacted public health authorities the following morning.
State Health Officials Advise Residents on Bat Testing Protocol
The morning after the encounter, a phone call to the Arkansas Department of Health led to a series of transfers before connecting the residents to the Little Rock Animal Village. While the facility primarily handles pet adoptions, a helpful volunteer connected the household to Jennifer at the Department of Agriculture. Jennifer informed the residents that the bat would need to be dead before being delivered to the state lab for testing.
The next contact, an employee at the state lab named Stephen, advised that unless the resident woke up with the bat literally in the bed, an actual bite was unlikely. However, Stephen confirmed that testing was the correct course of action and suggested using a household freezing method to kill the animal. After roughly 10 minutes of attempting the freezing process, the residents contacted Stephen again, who agreed to accept the bat alive.
Drop-Off at War Memorial Stadium and Negative Results
Following Stephen’s instructions, the residents traveled to an industrial loading dock behind War Memorial Stadium. Communicating through an ancient intercom system, they gained access to an entryway filled with cardboard boxes, where a man informed them that the bat had already perished during transport. After completing paperwork, the residents returned home to gather their four felines for emergency rabies booster shots.
Approximately 24 hours after the drop-off, the lab reported that the specimen’s rabies test results came back negative, concluding the ordeal.
