So You Think You'd Like to Rehab Bats...

Rehabbing bats is really rewarding and interesting. You meet new people from many different walks of life, and you have the opportunity to save bats' lives. The first step is learning what the rehabbing laws are in your state and becoming a member of any local rehabbing groups, so that you gain knowledge from other rehabbers, as well as getting them to know you and trust you. That helps immensely when people are releasing animals to you. Word of mouth is a postive thing.

The next step is to locate the clinic or doctor's office from which you'll be getting your rabies innoculations. Not every family doctor will write a prescription for them. Often, you'll be going to a clinic that gives injections for travellers. The shots are never covered by insurance since insurance companies view this as "recreational" or "leisure" activities. Funny thing is, if you were to actually contract rabies, from not being innoculated, their bill could be around a million dollars-worst case scenario-, instead of $600-$1000. Not a good trade-off in my opinion, but hey, I am not an insurance company. The father of Gina Geise, a local Wisconsin resident, who contracted rabies a few years ago from handling a bat with her bare hands, stated that her medical bills were upwards of a million dollars...But she lived, and most people don't.

So, be prepared to shell out your own money. The injections are staggered in time, but must ALWAYS be given intramuscular. Only in the upper arm, never in the glut, as there is too much fatty tissue in the glut, and hitting a muscle there is not an easy task. There was recently also a major shortage with rabies vaccines. The CDC has all the guidelines updated, as needed, on levels of rabies vaccines that are available to rehabbers for pre-exposure, boosters, etc, as well as post-exposure vaccines to those having been in contact with rabies vector animals.