It is a very bad situation.
Five hundred University of Georgia students were shocked when they returned to campus for the spring semester earlier this month to find bats had taken over their dorms.
“It’s very concerning,” student Eva Sardon told Fox 5 Atlanta.
“There was one in the lobby, and it was like on the floor, and then all of a sudden, it just got up and started flying at me, so I ran back to my room.”
The bat was first discovered on Jan. 14 and is believed to have entered the Ogelthorpe House dormitory — where students paid more than $3,000 for the semester — through a mechanical space on the roof of the building where school officials keep a boiler.
Since then, students have posted photos online showing bats hanging from their dorm room doors and in stairwells.
At one point, university officials had to close the building’s stairwells because of the attack, according to Atlanta News First.
Bats have taken over the Ogelthrope House dormitory at the University of Georgia.
The latest sighting of the bats occurred Thursday, when a local pest control company found about 30 of them huddled in the rafters of a mechanical room, university officials said.
Pest control companies now remain on standby in case students see more bats.
It is unclear which species of bats have been living in the dormitories, but three species in Georgia are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, and therefore cannot be killed or harmed when removed.
School officials say they are working to make sure no more winged creatures can enter the building.
The bat was first spotted on January 14 when students returned to school for the spring semester. Creeping students have posted photos online showing bats hanging from their dorm doors and in stairwells.
As of Sunday, all known holes where bats could access the building had been closed, Linda Kasper, executive director of university housing, told Fox 5.
Officials have also installed a check valve in the rooftop mechanical room so the winged creatures can exit the dorm but cannot re-enter, according to WSB-TV.
But freshman Ella Jones said she believes the school should do more to protect her and her fellow students, who fear rabies.
The school works with local health authorities to provide information to students about possible rabies exposure.
“I don’t know how eradication works, but I think there’s more that can be done,” he told Atlanta News First.
He said he knew at least some of the bats could be a protected species but asked, “I go to school here, am I not a protected species? I sure hope I am.”
Georgia health officials say there is less than a 1% chance that bats in dormitories carry rabies.
At one point, university officials had to close the building’s stairwells because of the attack.
The Northeast Health District said in a statement that it is “in the process of gathering information and conducting interviews with individuals identified as potentially at high risk of exposure to make appropriate care recommendations.
“The need for post-exposure rabies vaccination is based on the individual’s specific circumstances, including their contact with bats,” said health officials.
The school is also working with local health authorities to provide information to students about possible exposure.
School officials said all known holes through which bats could have accessed the building were closed on Sunday. University of Georgia
“We’ve been working with the Department of Public Health since last week, encouraging anyone who has had contact with bats, so everyone who lives in this building, everyone who has ever walked in this building, to get tested,” Kasper said.
“From there, they’ve been in touch with people to recommend any health precautions they need to take as a result.”
In the meantime, university officials said in a statement that they “advise students not to touch bats if they see them, but instead notify staff so they can be safely removed by a pest control contractor.”
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