Well, I caught the "Morale Booster"

This week has been pretty crazy. Last Monday, we were mistnetting in Oak Creek Canyon, a small canyon near Nephi, Utah. We were netting along a small creek in a small open pool. I was hoping for just one bat; I thought surely there would be too much water around to be too successful. Well, that night we caught 80 bats, in just three nets. For those outside the know, that is a lot of bats. Normally, I'd call 20 bats in a night a good night. Eighty bats is almost unheard of. That is almost a personal record for me. Anyways, we caught five different species: Silver-haired bats, big brown bats, Hoary bats, Long-eared bats, and Long-legged bats. It was pretty hectic. Even when we would close a net, we would check it and there would be 3 more in it (we didn't wrap the net, which we probably should of). There was only two experienced mistnetters (including myself), and two novices, so the novices had to learn quickly. Anyways, it was a lot of fun. Except . . . I might have been bit.

I was taking out one bat from the net, and while I was focused, another one flew into the net, and then grabbed me. I thought he had only grabbed my sleeve (after all, I was too focused at the time to feel anything). I saw the bat, shrugged it off and got back to work, because there were about eight bats in the net at the time, and they kept coming. I didn't check for a wound, so I did not keep the bat. Usually, if you've been bit, you take the bat, euthenize it, and then send it in to get checked for rabies. The only way to tell if an animal has rabies is to examine the brain.

A couple of days later, I was home and looking at my arms. I picked off a small scab (smaller than the head of a match), and stopped myself. It was on the same arm in the same area as where the bat had grabbed me. I did a lot of research on rabies, and the problem is you cannot tell that you have rabies until the symptoms show, and once the symptoms show, you're a dead duck. So I had to weigh the odds.

Worrisome:
1. I know a bat grabbed my sleeve, and then later I found a small scab. This could be evidence of a bat biting me.
2. If the bat had rabies, then I could contract rabies.
3. If I didn't act, I might be one of the rare people to die of rabies in recent years.
4. The species that bit me, the silver-haired, has a higher occurrence of rabies than most other species.

Contrary to worry:
1. I don't know 100% that the bat bit me. I am working a rough job, and am reckless with my extremities. It could just be a scratch.
2. Less than 0.5% of bats have rabies. Though this is just an estimate. Some species have more rabies than others.
3. I have the pre-exposure series, which is preventative against unknown bites, and maybe if I didn't think I had been bitten, I would be protected (I doubt it works that way, darn.)
4. I know some bat biologists don't wear protective gloves, get bit, and take no further preventive action. Bat biologists tend to not die of rabies (an assumption based on non-researched generalizations)
5. I tend to overreact to situations, a.k.a. I'm paranoid.

Well, I decided to ask my boss, K.H., and she talked to other people. Other people said better safe than sorry. In short, I have had to get a rabies booster, and a tetanus booster. Both my arms feel like they have been punched pretty hard. Feeling the rabies booster slowly flowing through my limbs is a pretty disconcerting experience.

I probably did not need to get the shot, I probably would have been just fine. And I am fine. If it hadn't of been a silver-haired biting my sleeve where a couple of days later I found a very small scab, I would not have been worried. Any other bat I would not have worried. Summary: do not worry, I am fine, I will most likely never contract rabies from this bat, or any other bat in the future. Bats are good, both for the environment and for my mental health. These are some of the most important things.

It rained the rest of the week. Now I am dog-sitting a very well-behaved dog for K.H. Dog is taking a nap, and I get to watch cable on a giant plasma t.v., and eat fresh sugar snap peas and lettuce from my boss' garden. This is almost the sweet life. It's always interesting to live in someone's life for a short period.