Julian Vrieslander wrote:
> <http://abcnews.go.com/WaterCooler/wireStory?id=5900965>
>
>
> CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa September 27, 2008 (AP)
>
> It wasn't just the caffeine that gave an Iowa woman an extra jolt after
> she had her morning coffee. It was also the bat she found in the filter.
> The Iowa Department of Public Health says the woman reported a bat in
> her house but wasn't too worried about it. She turned on her automatic
> coffee maker before bedtime and drank her coffee the next morning.
>
> She discovered the bat in the filter when she went to clean it that
> night. The woman has undergone treatment for possible rabies.
>
> Health officials say that the bat was sent to a lab but that its brain
> was too cooked by the hot water to determine whether it had rabies.
>
>
> [linked page has a photo]
>
Poor bat!
Reminds me of the one I caught in a country house we were renting, about
40 tears ago. We came home one evening with some groceries, and found a
"bird" had gotten into the house. It was flying around frantically, and
after a couple of minutes, my wife asked, "Um, do birds have *ears*?",
when it flew across the kitchen light over her head.
I tried to throw a bath towel over it as it circled the living room, but
of course it was way to fast at dodging me. Finally, I got frustrated
and just shot up a hand and grabbed at it. I don't know which of us was
more startled when I caught it!
Put it into a blown-up produce bag so we could watch it for a bit. The
cats were *really* fascinated, as it walked around like it was in a big
hamster ball! Eventually, opened the bag and watched it flit off into
the woods. That was when I realized I had gotten a bite scratch on my palm!
I talked with our vet, an old-timer in the region, and his opinion was
that he hadn't seen a case of rabies in bats around there for over 30
years. He felt I was more at risk from the shots than the bite. I knew
what my MD would say, so made my own decision. I did make a mental list
of people I'd like to bite, though...

Dave