SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — If you have bats in your belfry–or in your living room–in the middle of the night in Sioux Falls, don’t expect animal control to show up right away.
Animal control supervisor Julie DeJong says they’ll come the next morning. DeJong says bats are not dangerous and not a priority.
She says most bats don’t have rabies–only about three percent of those animal control catches.
Often, DeJong says, the bats either crawl back into the attic or flyaway to feed after the call comes in.
So far in 2020, Sioux Falls Animal Control has responded to 626 bat calls.
Under the new policy, animal control will respond during its business hours, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
DeJong spoke at Thursday’s daily police briefing.
Below is the City’s news release on the change in bat policy.
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Sioux Falls, South Dakota: During summer months, there is a rise in the number of calls to Animal Control about bats in homes. Young bats born earlier in the spring are starting to venture out and find new homes. Days are hotter and nights are cooler. Human homes provide a more stable temperature and are inviting to bats.
In other parts of the United States, bats are threatened by habitat destruction, disease and other stresses. The bats found in homes in Sioux Falls are most often big brown and little brown bats, both are commonly found in South Dakota and they are not endangered or threatened species. Bats are beneficial components of the natural environment for pest control, for example one little brown bat can eat up to 4,000 mosquitoes in one night.
If you do find a bat in your home, there is no reason to panic. If there has been no known contact or concern the bat has been in a room with a sleeping person, a child, or a mentally disabled or elderly person, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website advises people to close all doors and windows leading out of the room and to open a window or door to the outside. Turn off fans and lights to reduce distractions or impediments to the bat’s flight. The bat will likely exit on its own. If you decide to remove the bat, make sure you wear leather gloves and long sleeves when handling the animal.
If you have multiple bats in your home, you may want to hire an expert with experience in humanely excluding bats from attics and basements. There may be small structural issues that need to be fixed, such as spaces between the exterior and interior walls of a building, chimneys, or roofing materials.
Animal Control recently changed it’s classification of bat calls into two different response categories, priority and non-priority. If the bat has not caused an exposure risk, Animal Control will consider the bat a non-priority call, and they will respond to the call and attempt to remove the bat within normal working hours, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. If there has been a suspected exposure, Animal Control will consider it a priority, and they will respond at any time throughout the day or night. In the past, Animal Control would respond anytime throughout the day or night to all calls for bats in homes, whether there was exposure or not.
If you suspect the bat has bitten or scratched a person or pet, or if it has been in a room where people are sleeping, with a child, a mentally disabled or elderly person, please contact Animal Control at 367-7000 for assistance. If possible, safely contain the bat in a room. Animal Control will collect the bat and send it in for rabies testing. According to the South Dakota Department of Health, only 42 rabid bats were detected in South Dakota during the 10 year period from 2009-2018. In none of those cases did people contract rabies from exposure to those bats. In 2019, Sioux Falls Animal Control responded to 632 calls for bats in homes, yet only 15% of those calls resulted in bats being tested for rabies, and only one of the bats tested positive for rabies.
